All of us have been
there. The two days before your "check" arrives; the
tire blows out and it's late in the month; or, you write a
check the night before payday in hopes of beating it to
the bank. Central Appalachia Empowerment Zone (CAEZ) is in
that poor bucket, actually they haven't had any $$$ to
work with for the past several years.
CAEZ held their public meeting via ZOOM June 2nd beginning at 6pm. Clay County reps Connie Kinder, Fran King, and Linda Rhodes were not in attendance.
Another sign of of an agency nose diving is the low number of Boardsters attending meetings. For this meeting only 3 Board members made the effort to click a couple of buttons and sit in their home lounge chair for the ZOOM meeting. They didn't have to make a long drive and only participated!
Much time was spent discussing reducing wawa use over at the Dundon Campground. One thing that surfaced was, tell campers, those paying stiff fees, they can not wash their vehicles AKA ATV.s From Bus Manager Michelle Bodkins: I am afraid there will be no $$$ left after paying the wawa bill [at the campground].
Here's the problem readers. The wawa system at the campground and lodge breaks on a regular basis. Adding to the problem, the leaks are not detected for many days. On more than one occasion, CAEZ has gone to the wawa provider (Town of Clay) begging for a reduction. A couple times they received an "adjustment". Now adays when they have a leak, Town elders are not happy with giving them additional adjustments time after time.
The guy in charge of the Board, Michael Martin, was forthright with: The wawa bill scares me... It's a big expense.
IF you don't know, the Dundon Campground offers the only source of income for the struggling agency. Other sources like the Kiddy Patch daycare center, it's been closed for many months with the Board voting last month to keep it shut down in the future. As for renting space at their Valley Fork Grade School building, it ain't happening. As a matter of fact, that CAEZ building has been and remains, closed to the public.
How do we know they are broke? More time was spent on repairing the lawnmower used to cut the grass over at the Campground. Really? Yelp. If you have a campground, the grounds have to mowed and trimmed. The CAEZ uses a zero turn Gravely bought used last year for $3000. So how are they going to pay for the $1500 in repairs? The answer came from the CAEZ Chair. From Director Big Lup, "From the bookings, we have lots of bookings..." Let's see now, the grass is growing, bookings are slow coming in, and that's how they're coming up with the repair $$$. Hmmmmm..
With no money in the bank, CAEZ is counting on a long shot to keep the doors open. The non profit agency has been in an agreement with a Federal agency to build, remodel, and turn units into private homes for the needy. A few units were built and in use. CAEZ garners a management fee plus earns some rental income from the program. According to CAEZ Manager Michell Bodkins: They think $17000 is theirs but it is rent we completed.... that $41K is what we spent out of our $$$...
Boardster John David: They want the $$$ back?
Michelle, " It's not theirs!
Chair Michael Martin: We spent it and built stuff!
Get the picture readers? Around $50K is setting in an account and the CAEZ is chomping at the bit to spend it.. to stay alive. Instead the Feds are telling, nope, that's our $$ and we want it back."
It's kind of like 24 hours before payday and you have some can corn but no can opener.
Big Lup provided her meager Board an update on Clayberry. From the Lupster: The Town is growing leaps and bounds; the ERTS trail from Duck to Ivydale is open and being used a bunch. From Manager Bodkins: New businesses include, a tobacco store, a small town market, yak rentals, Sizemore Greenhouse closed down, there's a Cruise in Planned on the 13th; Frostbite dairy bar is not reopening; and Clay Lumber is closed indefinitely.
We read about businesses applying for and receiving Federal Corona grants to make ends meet. Big Lup told her Board that she had applied for those $$$ but was turned down. She later clarified, her application had not been accepted.
Chair Michael Martin asked that the agency switch back to having public meetings over at their Lodge. Next meeting will be held there, first Tuesday in July. Mark your calendar.
We thought the CAEZ would be belly up by July 1. With dwindling Board attendance and little jingle to work with, they are still in business... sort of. We haven't heard any major or minor new project by the CAEZ in several years. The dandy Bill Clinton inspired grass roots organization appears to be on the verge of fizzling away.
Henry David Thoreau: When it's time to die, let us not discover that we never lived.
Maybe better yet came from Mark Twain: I did not attend the funeral but I wrote a nice letter saying I approved it.
AW
CAEZ held their public meeting via ZOOM June 2nd beginning at 6pm. Clay County reps Connie Kinder, Fran King, and Linda Rhodes were not in attendance.
Another sign of of an agency nose diving is the low number of Boardsters attending meetings. For this meeting only 3 Board members made the effort to click a couple of buttons and sit in their home lounge chair for the ZOOM meeting. They didn't have to make a long drive and only participated!
Much time was spent discussing reducing wawa use over at the Dundon Campground. One thing that surfaced was, tell campers, those paying stiff fees, they can not wash their vehicles AKA ATV.s From Bus Manager Michelle Bodkins: I am afraid there will be no $$$ left after paying the wawa bill [at the campground].
Here's the problem readers. The wawa system at the campground and lodge breaks on a regular basis. Adding to the problem, the leaks are not detected for many days. On more than one occasion, CAEZ has gone to the wawa provider (Town of Clay) begging for a reduction. A couple times they received an "adjustment". Now adays when they have a leak, Town elders are not happy with giving them additional adjustments time after time.
The guy in charge of the Board, Michael Martin, was forthright with: The wawa bill scares me... It's a big expense.
IF you don't know, the Dundon Campground offers the only source of income for the struggling agency. Other sources like the Kiddy Patch daycare center, it's been closed for many months with the Board voting last month to keep it shut down in the future. As for renting space at their Valley Fork Grade School building, it ain't happening. As a matter of fact, that CAEZ building has been and remains, closed to the public.
How do we know they are broke? More time was spent on repairing the lawnmower used to cut the grass over at the Campground. Really? Yelp. If you have a campground, the grounds have to mowed and trimmed. The CAEZ uses a zero turn Gravely bought used last year for $3000. So how are they going to pay for the $1500 in repairs? The answer came from the CAEZ Chair. From Director Big Lup, "From the bookings, we have lots of bookings..." Let's see now, the grass is growing, bookings are slow coming in, and that's how they're coming up with the repair $$$. Hmmmmm..
With no money in the bank, CAEZ is counting on a long shot to keep the doors open. The non profit agency has been in an agreement with a Federal agency to build, remodel, and turn units into private homes for the needy. A few units were built and in use. CAEZ garners a management fee plus earns some rental income from the program. According to CAEZ Manager Michell Bodkins: They think $17000 is theirs but it is rent we completed.... that $41K is what we spent out of our $$$...
Boardster John David: They want the $$$ back?
Michelle, " It's not theirs!
Chair Michael Martin: We spent it and built stuff!
Get the picture readers? Around $50K is setting in an account and the CAEZ is chomping at the bit to spend it.. to stay alive. Instead the Feds are telling, nope, that's our $$ and we want it back."
It's kind of like 24 hours before payday and you have some can corn but no can opener.
Big Lup provided her meager Board an update on Clayberry. From the Lupster: The Town is growing leaps and bounds; the ERTS trail from Duck to Ivydale is open and being used a bunch. From Manager Bodkins: New businesses include, a tobacco store, a small town market, yak rentals, Sizemore Greenhouse closed down, there's a Cruise in Planned on the 13th; Frostbite dairy bar is not reopening; and Clay Lumber is closed indefinitely.
We read about businesses applying for and receiving Federal Corona grants to make ends meet. Big Lup told her Board that she had applied for those $$$ but was turned down. She later clarified, her application had not been accepted.
Chair Michael Martin asked that the agency switch back to having public meetings over at their Lodge. Next meeting will be held there, first Tuesday in July. Mark your calendar.
We thought the CAEZ would be belly up by July 1. With dwindling Board attendance and little jingle to work with, they are still in business... sort of. We haven't heard any major or minor new project by the CAEZ in several years. The dandy Bill Clinton inspired grass roots organization appears to be on the verge of fizzling away.
Henry David Thoreau: When it's time to die, let us not discover that we never lived.
Maybe better yet came from Mark Twain: I did not attend the funeral but I wrote a nice letter saying I approved it.
AW
