Lori Graham
Contributing Writer
MONTGOMERY COUNTY – The first Montgomery County Board of Supervisors’ meeting of the new year, held Jan. 8, had a primary agenda item to reorganize the structure of the board.
This is following the recent election that resulted in two new members to the board: Derek Kitts for District B and Anthony Grafsky for District E.
April DeMotts made the first nomination of Mary Biggs for the position of Chair of Supervisors with Sara Bohn seconding the motion. Supervisor Steve Fijalkowski motioned to close the nominations, which was followed by a unanimous agreement of the supervisors.
Biggs has a long history of service with Montgomery County. She was first elected as representative for District F in 1996 and has served as chair in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Biggs also served as vice chair 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
“I want to thank the Board for this opportunity, and I look at it as we’re a team and we’re here for the citizens and we’re going to do what we do best, and that’s work together and really help our county,” Biggs said.
Steve Fijalkowski received the first nomination to the position of Vice Chair for the Board from Supervisor Todd King. Bohn seconded the motion along with motioning to close the nominations. The nomination received a unanimous vote to name Fijalkowski as the new vice chair.
According to the Montgomery County website, Fijalkowski was first elected to the Board of Supervisors for District C in 2018 and served as Chair in 2020 and 2021.
In another agenda item for the new year, Supervisors unanimously voted to keep the Board meeting on the same dates and time as it currently is designated. The Board of Supervisors currently meets on the second and fourth Mondays of each month, beginning at 7:15 p.m., and holds any closed meeting sessions prior to the regular meeting unless otherwise specified by the County Administrator.
Bohn made a motion to amend a rule in the Roles of Order and Parliamentary Procedures. The amendment would have increased the public address time from its current four minutes to five minutes. According to Biggs, in the past, the public address had previously been five minutes and was reduced to four minutes in recent years. The motion did not receive a second; therefore, the public address time will remain at four minutes.
The Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct was presented to the Board, receiving another unanimous vote in agreement.
A public hearing was held for the FY 2024-2025 County Budget with no citizen coming forward with comment.
In New Business, the Board of Supervisors made many appointments to various Boards and Commissions within the New River Valley. A full list of appointments can be found at the County’s website at www.montva.com.
