Mizpah Church Candidate Forum

Mizpah Church in Fife hosted a public forum in its lovely meeting hall for all candidates seeking elected office in District 1 on Wednesday, September 11. Kudos to Mizpah Church for a very well-run event, and especially for a great sound system to enable everyone in the room to hear all remarks.

Moderator Al Martin announced at the beginning that Emiel Fisher has dropped out of the sheriff’s race. The forum began with the pledge of allegiance and a moving prayer remembering the horrific attacks on September 11, 2001 and thanking the Lord for his blessings on Goochland.

Candidates gave opening statements in alphabetical order. Stephen Creasey, (standing)spoke first. Mike Caudill at right.

The candidates each gave an opening statement, responded to questions from the audience, and made a closing statement. Following are highlights and some observations.

Another forum will be held at Goochland High School on September 24 for Sheriff and Commonwealth’s Attorney candidates only. To submit questions for that forum go to (http://www.cutt.ly/gcsheriff) by September 22 to submit questions.

Monacan Soil and Water District Director

Two candidates seeking the elected volunteer office of Monacan Soil and Water /conservation District, incumbent Jonathan Lyle and newcomer Sebastian Volcker introduced themselves. The MSWCD is an important part of keeping Goochland Rural.

Lyle attends most Board of Supervisors’ meetings to advocate for responsible land use, healthy soil and clean water. Ronnie Nuckols, also an incumbent seeking reelection, along with his family “walk the walk” of best practices in agriculture. Volcker farms exquisite property along the James River in western Goochland and runs Clover Forest, the oldest wedding venue in the county. You may cast votes for only two of these fine candidates. Choice is hard.

Commissioner of the Revenue

Incumbent Jennifer Brown is seeking her second term in this Constitutional Office without opposition. She earned master commissioner of the revenue designation from the Weldon Cooper Center of the University of Virginia and her Deputy Sandra Wray earned a master deputy commissioner of the revenue designation. Responsibilities of her office include administering tax relief for the elderly and disabled; all personal property assessment; DMV select; assessing all county businesses for license tax; and determining short term rental tax. See http://www.goochlandva.us/324/Commissioner-of-the-Revenue for more details. Brown, a Goochland native, said her office works to provide the highest quality of customer service to all citizens.

Treasurer

Pam Duncan was appointed county treasurer, a Constitutional Office, to succeed Pamela Johnson who retired at the end of June. Following a successful career in accounting and bank auditing, Duncan, a CPA, joined the Goochland Treasurer’s office in 2012 to help clean up the mess resulting from the embezzlement of former treasurer Brenda Grubbs. Since that time, public trust in the treasurer’s office has been restored; many staff members have earned master deputy treasurer certification and others are working toward the designation; the office has been certified. Going forward, Duncan wants to improve the return on investment for county funds. Duncan was named Virginia Deputy Treasurer of the year for 2019. She is running unopposed.

School Board

Jennifer Mazza and Sandra Barefoot-Reid are running to succeed Mike Payne representing District 1 on the Goochland School Board. Both praised the achievements of our school division and pledge to continue its upward trajectory.

Barefoot-Reid held several non-teaching jobs in county schools over the years. She’s been a volunteer EMT, a paralegal, and human resources director. She believes our schools are doing a great job and wants to see more career and technical education offerings in the system. 

Mazza, a conservative Christian, teaches CTE subjects in Henrico including landscaping and green house management. She and her husband own a small construction company. Mazza wants to expand the CTE program and find a way to allow home schooled students to learn marketable skills.  She also wants to protect our schools from state and federal over watch. She contended that the best way to make our schools even better is to encourage parents to attend school board meetings and be more involved in their childrens' education. 

Commonwealth’s Attorney

D. Michael Caudill has been Goochland Commonwealth’s Attorney since 2016. He is the county’s prosecutor. His office deals with criminal matters and the victim witness unit, which advises victims of crime about their rights and offers advice about resources available to help them recover. He invited all to attend a trial to see how the criminal justice system works and said he is always ready to answer citizen questions.

Supervisor

Crystal Neilson-Hall, former teacher, farmer, and small business owner seemed to shout at the audience. Perhaps she was unaccustomed to speaking with a microphone and wanted to ensure that everyone heard her. Neilson-Hall’s main issue is broadband expansion, which she claimed the county did nothing about until just before the election. Broadband said Neilson-Hall is a necessity of life and should be treated like a utility.  She disputed the county contention that a private service provider is needed to bring broadband to unserved areas and declared that she has researched the issue and consulted with experts, to craft a plan to solve the problem, but declined to share details. She supports “shifting resources” from building a new courthouse, schools, and fire-rescue stations to fund broadband infrastructure.

 She also believes that the county should say no to new development because small lot subdivisions are not rural and raise the price of land in the entire county. Neilson-Hall wants ‘round the clock EMS providers at Fife Company 4 to shorten response time. (Thanks to new career provider hires, all six county fire-rescue station will have 24/7/365 crews soon)

Neilson-Hall supports increasing local government support services for elderly people who” fall through the cracks” because they do not qualify for low income benefits but did not say how she would pay for it.

She observed that a noise ordinance may not be the best approach to deal with people who do not respect their neighbors and create a racket late at night.

Neilson-Hall wants to do many things, but did not seem to understand that, she must work with the other four supervisors to decide what is best for the county as a whole.

Incumbent supervisor Susan Lascolette reminded the group just how far Goochland has come since the 2011 election. Goochland, she contended, was on the brink of receivership. Application of conservative fiscal principals transformed county government from an embarrassment into a model. Our schools are first rate. She wants to stay on the team to bring Goochland into the next chapter. Lascolette explained that “we all owe a lot of money” and the only way to pay that debt is growth in the 15 percent of eastern Goochland designated for economic development to keep the remainder of the county rural.  She reported that the increase in the school-aged population is less than forecast, so the new Goochland Elementary School, expected to open in 2024, will be able to absorb expected growth.

Lascolette contended that the county is not permitted to act as an internet service provider. A partnership between Goochland and the Central Virginia Electric Coop will bring broadband to about one third of homes in District 1.

Balance is the key to successful government contended Lascolette. The rights of landowners to develop their property must be balanced with possible negative impacts of that change on neighbors. Lascolette declared that she will not support a property tax rate increase and contended that the county must live within its means. In the next 10 years, Goochland will build a new elementary school, courthouse and fire-rescue station thanks to careful planning and money management.  She said that being a supervisor was much harder and more rewarding that she ever imagined; she never realized how much taking care of little things can improve lives.

Sheriff

Steven Creasey said being sheriff is a calling, not a career. He wants to serve the county where he was born, educated, and has worked for his entire life. He wants to keep Goochland Schools the safest in the state because his daughter is a student there. He is ready to work with the Board of Supervisors to provide funding for more patrol deputies to keep the whole county safe. He plans to establish a community round table to enable all members of the community to learn from each other talk through problems and trust each other. 

Levin White said had it not been for the forum, he would have attended the 911 event at the Richmond War Memorial. (Not the local remembrance at Manakin Company 1 in Goochland?) He started his law enforcement career walking a beat in Richmond’s Gilpin Court for community policing.  He contended that his experience in hundreds of death and homicide investigations is sorely needed to solve suspicious deaths in Goochland because he has a higher level of training.

Creasey said the sheriff’s office greatest need is more “boots on the ground” patrol officers. There is currently one funded deputy vacancy.

White said a Centerville substation is needed to provide a “police presence” in high growth areas. He would place this in a commercial area and give the property owner a “tax break” to pay for it but provided no details about how it would be staffed, or what would happen there.

Creasey responded the sheriff cannot offer “tax breaks” but was quick to point out that resources should not be concentrated in the east end, and suggested, if needed, substations be added to new fire-rescue stations throughout the county.

White dismissed that notion because people want to feel safe when they go to a fire-rescue station, not worry about being arrested. Wouldn’t a substation near restaurants put a damper on the sale of alcoholic beverages and the profitability of those establishments?

White said that the shortage of deputies could easily be filled with officers retired from other justification who are trained and certified. (The Virginia Commonwealth Police uses this strategy to fill its ranks.) He will add 10 to 15 deputies immediately but declined to mention where the money to pay and equip them will come from.

 In response to White’s criticism that not enough is being done to combat the opioid crisis, Creasey explained that deputies have been supplied with and trained in the use of Narcan since last year.

White declared that real progress against drugs cannot be made without regional partnerships. Yet, Creasey has been endorsed by leaders of neighboring law enforcement agencies and worked with the Virginia State Police and other agencies for years.

Tensions between the Sheriff’s Office and the Caudill hovered over the remarks. Creasey said that he gets along well with the Commonwealth’s Attorney, and sometimes has lunch with Caudill. On one occasion “Mike said that he already considered me the sheriff,” Creasey reported.

White said he would repair this rift by assigning a deputy full time to the Caudill’s office, but did not specify this deputy’s duties.

There was a lot of comment about unsolved murders.

White said that he has worked hundreds of death and homicide investigations during his career, experience he believes is badly needed in Goochland to solve long open murder cases. He also believes that deputies need more and better training to deal with explicit and implicit “bias” that could have a negative impact on their work but did not elaborate.

Creasey said has not investigated many homicides because this is Goochland, not Richmond, or Petersburg. He pledged, however, to continue to work on murder cases until they are solved.

White reiterated the need to get to the bottom of these open cases and mentioned the 2003 murder of a local realtor handled by the state police instead of the Sheriff’s Office.

Caudill commented that Sheriff Agnew, who was in the audience, was “otherwise occupied” with a power failure or something. Agnew explained that he and several deputies were involved in a standoff with an armed fugitive from Savannah, Georgia at the time.

In response to a query about interaction with county administration, White reported that he had good relationships with county administrations he worked with in other states but did not mention Goochland. Creasey said “I work with them every day.”

Creasey finished with the thought that he does not need to “learn” Goochland.  “I know where Pea Ridge is, I know the good guys and the bad guys—I’ve arrested them.”

White said he had not known what to expect from the “west side” of Goochland and seemed surprised at the civil behavior of the audience. Does this mean that White, running for an office responsible for the safety of the entire county, has not familiarized himself with each and every part of Goochland?