The National Association of Landscape Professionals featured VTC President Phil Bailey in today’s newsletter. Click Here for the entire newsletter – the issue includes information about H-2B Fly-in
In the States
VTC President Phil Bailey (L) and VDACS Commissioner Joe Guthrie
Representatives of the Virginia Turfgrass Council traveled to Richmond on Tuesday of this week to meet with Virginia Secretary of Agriculture Matt Lohr, Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Joe Guthrie and Director Larry Nichols, who oversees the Division of Consumer Protection.
VTC Executive Director Tom Tracy outlined the issue of significant delays in obtaining pesticide licenses from the state, expressing member’s frustration at waiting weeks for correspondence from VDAC and in some cases not receiving correspondence at all. This delay comes at an especially critical time for green industry companies resulting in service delays and customer dissatisfaction.
Nichols explained to the group that VDAC ran into hurtles that delayed the processing the letters of intent, an initial document in the licensure process, and announced that the state was poised to launch a new on-line system on Thursday of this week that will process payments and issue letters of authorization to license candidates by email. This will be followed by the launch of a remote, on-line testing platform in the future. Lohr asked that the VDAC team be allowed to come together to brainstorm the issues laid out in the meeting and to follow up with the group via Zoom meeting in the near future.