The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors (MCBS) agreed on Tuesday, March 5, to further study the possibility of the county applying for grant funds through the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) to remove derelict boats from county waters.
VMRC plans to award $3 million over the next two fiscal budget years to localities to help in the removal of derelict boats. According to Brian Miller of Deltaville, there are five derelict boats on Broad Creek alone that need removing.
Miller and Middlesex Economic Development Authority (EDA) Executive Director Trent Funkhouser encouraged the board to move forward on the possibility of applying for a grant.
County Administrator Matt Walker cautioned the board that he was not opposed to applying for grant funds so long as it does not “forever” obligate the county to be in the boat removal business.
County Attorney Heather Lewis stated that the code of Virginia specifies that derelict boats in state waters are regulated by VMRC. “By law, it is not our responsibility to remove those boats,” she said.
Funkhouser said that the grant program is designed to help expedite the removal of abandoned boats and that he does not think it is designed to shift responsibility over the long term from the state to the county. However, he agreed more research needs to be done to make sure that it is not a possibility.
There was also a question of whether or not a county ordinance is required, which “might” further create long-term obligations on Middlesex having to regulate the removal of derelict boats, said Walker.
“If we could stay away from an ordinance, we would be better off,” said Walker. “You (supervisors) do not want to take responsibility of this (removal of derelict boats) from the state forever.”
Walker noted the Virginia state legislature has a history of offering financial incentives to counties that later on shift funding responsibilities to the localities after grant and other financial incentives are gone. “We do not want this grant to be a slippery slope where we take ownership (of state bottom) away from the state. We want the grant, if it does not come with a bunch of hooks in it for us,” he said.
Supervisor comments
Supervisors were much more proactive towards applying for the grant. Hartfield representative Bill Harris said he was for applying for the grant and to “see where it goes.”
“I’m for picking one vessel and moving forward and see how the process goes with the state,” said B. Harris. “I will also go along with seeking grant funds to remove a cluster of boats.”
He cautioned the board that if Middlesex is not proactive in removing derelict boats, people in surrounding localities looking for a place to get rid of their boats will find Middlesex waters appealing. Gloucester and Mathews counties have applied for the VMRC grant funding.
Chairman of the board — Saluda District Supervisor Don Harris — said, “The issue of derelict boats is not going away and if we do not do something now, whatever is on our plate now is just going to get fuller as time goes on.”
Jamaica District Supervisor Wayne Jessie encouraged the board to further study the matter. “It is a problem and I agree with Bill (Harris) we need to be proactive on finding ways to solve these issues,” he said.
The board agreed unanimously to have the county attorney research the ordinance issue; to have Miller work with the EDA officials to determine the number of derelict boats in county waters that need removing; and for Funkhouser and Lewis to further research the grant application to determine if it obligates the county in anyway to becoming a regulatory agency in the future.
A VMRC representative was scheduled to be at the meeting but did not show up. “The VMRC representative could have probably answered a lot of our questions today,” said Walker.
