Government

To vote in Grayson County’s May 1 town elections, citizens must be registered to vote by 5 p.m. April 9.
Elections will be held in Independence, Fries and Troutdale.
The filing deadline for candidates was March 6.
Two candidates filed for three open seats in Independence: Shane Allen and Ronald Sexton.

FRIES – Town Manager Brian Reed told Fries Town Council at its March 6 meeting that an audit isn’t cheap but they must have one.
Reed said with the large grants received by the town for the new fire department construction and the mill project that they would have to have an audit.
“Fries hasn’t had an audit since 2006,” Reed said. “Since Fries has only 453 residents and a budget of about $400,000, the town was under the threshold of the audit requirement.”

FRIES – Four full-time Fries employees will lose their health insurance effective June 1.
At the Feb. 7 meeting, Vice Mayor Nancy Hawks said due to the current financial situation, she made the motion to eliminate all town employees health insurance and to supplement each employee’s salary by $250 per month. Even with the pay increase, the elimination of health insurance would save the town $18,000 a year.
The motion, which passed by a unanimous vote, authorized Mayor Gary Sumner to set the effective date of the termination.

Mitt Romney handily won Carroll and Grayson counties and Galax as well as Virginia in statewide Republican presidential primary voting on Tuesday.
The former Massachusetts governor carried the state with about 60 percent of the vote against Rep. Ron Paul.
Romney’s percentage of the vote in the Twin Counties and 9th Congressional District ran slightly lower than his statewide level of support.
Romney won the Twin County region by a total of 926 to 679. He won 57.7 percent of the combined vote for Galax, Carroll and Grayson, and Paul took 42.3 percent.