As a concerned tax-paying citizen of Highland County, I would like to express my opinion regarding the case for a recall of two current members of the County Board of Supervisors (the Board).
Before moving to Highland, my wife and I researched numerous counties in the state of Virginia to find that special place to put down roots. Our chosen location needed to be rural, with reasonable tax rates and conservative government. We visited many counties and looked at several properties before deciding that Highland County was the place that fit the bill. So we purchased a small property and went about building a life here.
Things were going according to plan, until after the 2023 local election. We heard rumors that the county's volunteer rescue squad was at odds with the Board and that the Board was attempting to hire paid Emergency Medical Service (EMS) employees to replace EMS volunteers.
From what I understand, from word-of-mouth accounts and news articles in The Recorder, the catalyst for much of this dysfunction seemed to have roots in an event that happened many years ago when rescue squad volunteers were late in responding to a particular call. Justification for paid EMS, in more recent times, was that recruiting new volunteers had become increasingly difficult. With the recruiting issue in mind, EMS volunteers did request assistance from a past Board to supplement their organization with a few paid staff to serve during normal work week hours when volunteers were working regular jobs or had other responsibilities outside of Highland County. Obviously, given the circumstances, it made sense to hire a small cadre of paid EMS staff to provide coverage during typical work week hours. However, that request quickly spun out of control.
While failing to coordinate with Highland's volunteer rescue squad leadership, the Board purchased an unneeded facility (Monterey's old car wash) and hired EMS staff in numbers far beyond what was requested or needed. The Board also purchased emergency vehicles that were wholly inadequate for service in Highland County, one of which has not yet seen one day of service. These unnecessary costs, for the facility and vehicles that are inadequate for emergency service, have been borne by County taxpayers.
Early this year, my wife and I decided to start attending the Board of Supervisors meetings to assess what was going on, first hand, and how this issue might affect us. After attending several meetings, we were shocked at the dysfunction of the current Board.
To frame the current situation correctly, it's necessary to mention the service of Highland's EMS volunteers and to address the topic of volunteerism. First and foremost, Highland's volunteer EMS staff have been serving Highland County for approximately fifty years. They've raised funds and obtained grants to purchase rescue vehicles, and have obtained buildings for staging operations and to house their vehicles. Very little of this funding came at the expense of County taxpayers.
When it comes to volunteerism in general, the Board's viewpoint is upside down. Volunteers should be valued, not abused. For instance, my wife and I have volunteered to work with the Ruritans during the Maple Festival for the past few years. At this year's festival, my task was to cook sausage, running an industrial oven at its maximum capacity, non-stop, in a hot smoky kitchen for a full day. At the end of the day, the Ruritans did not hand me a toilet brush and demand that I clean the bathrooms. They gave me a heart-felt “Thank You” and, later, an invitation to a dinner in honor of the volunteers and their families. This is not how the Board and the former paid EMS Chief treated Highland's volunteer rescue workers.
The former EMS Chief, (Nick Fialo) who was hired to manage paid staff, set up divisions between the volunteers and paid staff. He made unrealistic demands such as requiring volunteers to work shifts on location versus responding to call-outs from home, as the volunteers have done for years. Paid staff even insisted that volunteers be responsible for cleaning facilities, washing emergency vehicles, and stocking those vehicles with medical supplies. To fully understand why such demands were absurd, realize that paid EMS staff may work twelve or even twenty-four hour shifts. Twenty-four hour shifts mean that paid staff are, at some point, sleeping on the clock. Since the average call-out frequency is a bit less than one call per day, one can only imagine what paid staff were doing during hours when they're not running a call. (Surfing the Internet comes to mind.) In any case, paid staff have plenty of time, on the clock, to take care of EMS maintenance chores.
In the bottom line these divisions could have been easily settled by the Board by simply directing Mr. Fialo to “knock it off”. Instead of exercising common sense, two members of the Board sided with the Mr. Fialo, instead of the volunteers who have been serving Highland County for decades…free of charge to taxpayers. Interestingly, Mr. Fialo suddenly resigned earlier this year. The reason for his “resignation” wasn't formally disclosed.
On April 11, 2024, after having been in office for a bit over three months and despite strong opposition from Highland County residents, the current Board Chairman read a proclamation and voted along with Harry Sponaugle to, effectively, shutdown the entire volunteer EMS operation. The result left Highland County critically short of EMS personnel and equipment to answer emergency calls. This decision, reckless by any measure, made no sense at all. This action, crafted in secret by the two members of Board that voted for it, created a clear case of public endangerment.
As a case in point, there were seven emergency calls in a single day. Paid EMS responded to two (2) calls while EMS volunteers responded to five (5). Were it not for the lawsuit EMS volunteers had filed, and a legal maneuver that the Board took in response to the lawsuit that temporarily reinstated EMS volunteers, fatalities could have resulted on that day. This series of events underscore an astonishing level of bad judgment on the part of the Board that could happen again if this recall doesn't succeed.
Make no mistake, events like this do not happen in a vacuum. While not mentioned here, similar events have happened before and will almost assuredly happen again. As it is written in the Bible (Ecclesiastes 1:9), “There is nothing new under the sun.” If allowed to remain in their current positions, the very same Board members may attempt to shut down the volunteer EMS service a second time or make other disastrous decisions of similar magnitude. It is obvious that the citizens of Highland County cannot trust this Board to make important decisions.
Finally, while not a statutory requirement, some measure of integrity should be required for Board positions. Along these lines, anyone who is remotely familiar with politics knows that “The Swamp” is an accurate characterization of State and National level politics. Given that this County's influence on State and National politics is limited, there's not much that can be done about that. However, local politics is another matter.
Having attended all Board meetings from April 11 onward, I've witnessed some amazing events. Highland County residents, during citizen comment periods at the Board meetings, have openly called Chairman Budzinski a liar. One citizen told Mr. Budzinski that, essentially, he is the primary cause of the Board's dysfunction. Further, the same individual, in a letter that was read into the record, stated that Mr. Budzinski is an idiot or words to that effect. Adding to this, I'm aware of more than one instance where, when Mr. Budzinski campaigned, those he talked to said later that he had lied to them. Why is this important? The citizens of Highland County cannot allow “swamp creatures” to take over local politics as has been done at the State and National levels. We cannot allow local candidates to say or do whatever it takes to get elected and then, once in office, become elected Dictators.
With a deaf ear to the will of the people and apparent blindness to common sense, two members of the Board are attempting to force Highland County into an EMS service it cannot afford, raising fees and taxes along the way, while attempting to shut down volunteerism that is both free and critical to the welfare of County residents.
Given the obvious instances of bad judgment, two members of this Board cannot be trusted to make responsible decisions for Highland County's citizens. Under these circumstances, a recall is the citizens' only recourse for holding this Board accountable and to head off three more years of potentially disastrous damage to Highland County. In the bottom line, it's time to clean up our own swamp because it's starting to stink.