PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. – The Blue Ridge Rock Festival was a four-day, sold-out event including heavy traffic and lack of transportation.
Pittsylvania County leaders stepped in to address issues at September’s event and later billed the organizer, Purpose Driven Events and CEO Jonathan Slye, more than $300,000 for providing services including shuttle buses.
“The shuttle bus services were a huge, critical piece that we were very grateful and appreciative of. It was finetuning and making sure that we were all on the same page about all those different invoices,” said Jonathan Slye.
Slye told 10 News last month that the county was already in possession of a $500,000 cash bond – essentially a deposit from his company.
The county used that deposit to cover what Slye owed before the Oct. 28 deadline.
After the county took it’s the $337,000, a spokesperson says $11,000 dollars was sent to Purpose Driven Events with the remaining $152,000 going to pay the meals tax and other fees.
The county administrator confirmed it in a podcast released after our interview with Slye.
Slye says regardless, the invoices have been paid.
“[The bond is] liquid cash money, and so whether we write them a check for [the invoices] and they send it back, or they simply deduct from the bond, it ends up being the same thing. So, for us we ultimately said we’re fine with going with the bond,” said Slye.
Slye claims the $11,000 the county owed to Purpose Driven Events was made out to the wrong company, and they are working to have that fixed.