Albemarle County Supervisors highlight priorities for 2023

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - As we bring 2022 to a close, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has a full plate going into 2023.

When talking to two Albemarle supervisors about their priorities, the topic of the environment came up often.

“It seems like a little thing, but it’s litter, we have got to quit polluting our land in the local area and Albemarle County with horrible littering. I’m really excited about the opening of the Keene Convenience Center,” Board Chair Donna Price said.

The Keene Convenience Center will open in January and give people a place to throw away household waste at a low cost. A plastic bag tax will also be put in place starting January 1st.

“We need to change people’s perception, their behavior, their conduct, to make this a more environmentally stable community where we live,” Price said.

Vice Chair Bea LaPisto-Kirtley hopes to add more green space to the county.

“We’ve added pickleball courts, we’re trying to improve our soccer fields, playing fields for the children, for the adults, getting outside and taking advantage of all that. That’s immensely important for all of us, and we want to make sure that happens. So, I would like to see us this coming year create a parks foundation,” LaPisto-Kirtley said.

In addition to these environmental initiatives, the county is also launching a mental health response team.

“It involves usually three people, which is a police officer, a social services worker, and a fire and rescue response team. There are many people that maybe they have a crisis going on in life, and they call for help, but they don’t need a lot of police showing up,” LaPisto-Kirtley said.

These projects will need to be funded through taxpayer money, with enough to pay for specialty projects.

“We have a lot of questions that remain to be answered in terms of what is our economic forecast, what will our revenues be in 2023, but we have such an incredible financial team in Albemarle County that we can accomplish all the things we need to accomplish,” Price said.

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