Pike County supervisors collectively announced their re-election bids at the end of their meeting Tuesday, saying they look forward to continuing their work as a team for another four years as major projects unfold.
“We’ve done a lot this first term. The second term, there’s unfinished business,” board president Jake Gazzo said.
All but one of the supervisors, Tazwell Bowsky, is in their first term in office.
Their re-election campaigns next year will coincide with $10 million worth of road work that is expected to begin in earnest next spring, as well as a likely decision on whether to build a new county jail.
“Whether we’re going to go through with this jail or not is to be determined. We’ve got to follow the money and see if it’s worth doing and go from there,” Gazzo said. “We always want to make the best decisions for the citizens of Pike County and we’ve had a good team here and we want to continue it.”
Supervisor Sam Hall said the board has been engaged in a flurry of activity since it took office, and the past year alone has seen a successful redistricting effort, along with a commitment to large-scale road repairs and studies on what to do about the aging county jail.
“We do have a lot of major activity going on. We’ve got more activity in the county than I’ve seen in 20 years,” Hall said. “We’ve done a lot of good things in those three years.”
The board took office at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Supervisor Robert Accardo noted.
“We worked as a team to make things work and we did all of this through the pandemic. … That was a challenge in itself,” he said. “I know I am and I think we all are very committed to following through on the things we started in this county.”
Supervisor Lee Fortenberry said he appreciated the peaceful demeanor of the board meetings and the board’s ability to work together.
He said the board’s decision to provide air ambulance coverage for the county has already helped some families avoid enormous medical costs.
“A lot of people don’t know about the Air Med, the helicopter. It’s free to our citizens now,” Fortenberry said, noting that it usually costs $30,000 to $50,000 per trip.
Accardo said an EMT recently told him that a child recently needed an air ambulance, which probably would have bankrupted the youth’s parents if not for the county-provided coverage.
Hall also noted the county’s action to keep the drivers license office in Summit will maintain convenience and save gas for residents, who otherwise would have had to drive to Brookhaven.
“We try to get along and do the right thing for people,” Fortenberry said.
