On the first of December

A thumbnail sketch of the December board of supervisors’ meeting

Once again, the regular monthly meeting of the Goochland Board of Supervisors was short and to the point. This is a welcome change from the day-long marathons that characterized the previous administration.

The big news of the meeting was the board’s unanimous vote to appoint Norman B. Sales, currently the City Attorney of Richmond, as the new Goochland County Attorney. He will join the county staff on January 18 and will be a welcome addition to the new Goochland management team being put in place by county administrator Rebecca T. Dickson. Barbara Rose, interim county attorney, graciously agreed to serve until Sales comes on board.
Sales’ experience dealing with the sometimes high weird of Richmond government is excellent preparation for the Goochland County Attorney post. Other city alumni on the Goochland staff include Don Charles who has done an outstanding job as director of community development and Gary Duval our new county engineer who is busy sorting out the public utilities department.

Thanks to the outstanding efforts of Goochland Fire Marshal Phil Paquette and Dave Duffy and his staff at the county office of permits and inspection for their efforts to comply with continuing education, the Goochland County Board of Supervisors and County Administrator are recipients of the 2009 Virginia Building and Code Officials Association President’s Award for supporting Paquette and Duffy in their endeavors.

Sheriff Jim Agnew reported that seasonal thieves are active gain and daytime break-ins, especially in the Oilville/Hanover area are on a seasonal upswing. Agnew said that deputies are setting up roadblocks in the area and checking all vehicles. On a recent day, 500 cars were stopped and resulting in several arrests.

Observant citizens are vital to helping stamp out this kind of crime, said Agnew, who urged residents to report any unusual behavior to his office. The non-emergency number is 556-5349 or call 911.

The Goochland Electoral Board commended Bill Cleveland, the county’s information technology director and Cecil Youngblood, director of buildings and grounds for their assistance in the recent gubernatorial election.

Herb Griffith, Electoral Board secretary especially commended Mark Troy, a member of the information technology staff, for his technical assistance with the preparation, programming and testing of the new electronic poll books. He contended those services place Goochland’s electoral processes far superior to most other jurisdictions.

The board approved an annual legislative agenda that outlines its position on a variety of issues addressed by the general assembly. Those items include support for granting counties the same power to levy excise taxes currently enjoyed by cities and towns.

It also supports excusing rural areas from designating urban growth areas with permitted density at least four times that of surrounding areas. The board needs to understand that higher densities are needed in a few select areas well served by roads and public utilities, which right now means Centerville, to jump start meaningful economic development in the Tuckahoe Creek Service District.

See the board packet on the county website at www.co.goochland.va.us for details.

The board voted unanimously to refer rezoning of approximately 132 acres on the east side of Oilville Road both north and south of Interstate 64 for rezoning from A-2 and B-2 to B-3, which will could support a hotel, to the planning commission.

A public hearing on the creation of a service district at the Oilville I-64 interchange, to be held on March 2, 2010 was also unanimously approved. The service district plan states that the county will not incur any debt to build wastewater treatment and water supplies until $1 million is contributed by landowners in the district and $14 million of development is in place.
All land in the district must be out of land use, zoned for commercial or retail and be assessed for the ad valorem tax, which is currently estimated at 40 cents per $100 of valuation before the county will consider construction of utility infrastructure. Landowners must donate a lot for the location of the wastewater treatment plant and reimburse the county for construction of an access road to the plant. Also, a plat must be submitted to the county clearly designating about 36 acres on the eastern boundary of the land north of I64 for residential use. This property abuts existing residential property.

A resolution in support of the Oilville actions from the Economic Development Authority was read into the record.

By March, the fate of the Oilville I-64 rest stops should be clear.

The board went into closed session to obtain legal advice concerning the Tuckahoe Creek Service District and certain vendor information. When the board emerged from closed session, Eads announced that the board declined to act on requests to add certain parcels of land to the TCSD. The board has traditionally addressed requests for parcels of land to enter or leave the TCSD at its December meeting. The lack of action may be related to the exhaustive review of the District by county staff currently in process.

During public comment at the start of the meeting and following the closed session concerned parents passionately urged the board not to cut core programs and services out of the school budget.

Several speakers suggested that the board raise the tax rate to cover the expected shortfall caused by declining real estate values. One contended that surrounding jurisdictions have higher tax rates and that a rate in Goochland of up to 67 cents per $100 would not be unreasonable.

These parents seemed to believe that the supervisors are demanding that teachers be fired and core programs, including the gifted center, be eliminated because of the financial downturn.

Why are these intelligent, engaged parents not demanding that the school board protect teacher jobs and core programs and instead address the shortfall by trimming administrative personnel and ancillary services? Why do parents permit themselves to be manipulated by the schools who claim that the only way to deal with expected revenue shortfalls is to eliminate the items that will generate the most outrage?

The school board does not seem to understand that it has an important part in the careful stewardship of tax dollars. Its job is to make sure that the school system spends the money wisely, not just rubberstamp whatever the superintendent wants. There are still a lot of questions about the proposed school budget for fiscal 2011 caused largely by a lack of transparency on the part of the schools.

All Goochland students should receive an education that well prepares them to meet the challenges of the next phase of their lives. Taxpayers, however, should have confidence, currently lacking, that their education tax dollars are spent wisely and well.