No one told me

 

Town criers used to keep citizens informed

How do you get your information about Goochland County? Do you care about what’s going on in Goochland County? Do you care?  Do you even know if you live in Goochland County?

Regular readers of GOMM know more than most, but GOMM cannot report on everything.

Newspapers are well, yesterday’s news and cannot compete with the 24/7 news cycle. They no longer have the staffing, budget, or will to report on anything but the most salacious topics. Budget hearings, school board meetings, and land use applications are too boring to bother with. Too often they are filled with “contributed” items that are cut and pasted into the publication with no vetting.

Few people pay attention to local government until it does something they find objectionable. By then it’s usually too late to change the outcome.

Goochland County posts yellow signs on property involved in the change of land use. This could mean a rezoning or application for a conditional use permit for something not allowed “by right” in a particular zoning category. Although the signs are brightly colored, they’re hard to read while zipping along in a vehicle. You can go to https://www.goochlandva.us/833/Zoning-Signs for an explanation, but how many residents know to do that? Links on the zoning sign page take you to a list of pending zoning actions in the entire county. Unless you know which District a particular sign is in, this could be more frustrating that helpful.

When you see this, pay close attention.

Goochland County’s website https://www.goochlandva.us/ has much interesting and useful information about local government and links to community organizations from agricultural resources to the YMCA. It also has a calendar on the homepage showing upcoming government and community meetings. While property owners adjacent to a pending land use change are notified by the county, those living nearby could be affected by the action and not know anything about it until the bulldozers arrive. Checking the county website often is a good way to keep abreast of local activity.

At a June 7 day-long strategic plan workshop, the Board of Supervisors discussed ways to gather input from citizens and keep them informed. Creation of a public relations department to “toot Goochland’s horn” was discusses. This would not only distribute press releases but serve as a mechanism to “control the narrative” in difficult situations.

Currently, the county posts timely information on its Twitter and Facebook accounts. Social media, though flawed, is the fastest way to disseminate information in Goochland. This is most effective when residents “follow” those accounts. For instance, the county posts notices about closures of government facilities, yet on every holiday, people ask “is the dump open?”.

In a perfect—and long gone, world—the local newspaper had a reporter whose primary focus was schools. People like to see pictures of their kids in the paper. More importantly, education is the largest expenditure of local revenue, so people should know how their tax dollars are being spent.

Goochland schools have come a long way in the few years, yet newcomers to the county, and some long-term residents, still believe that you only send your kids to Goochland Schools if you have no other option. (On second thought, maybe we shouldn’t let this secret out. The small size of our school division may be a contributing factor to its success.)

Richmond’s mainstream media tends to cover only sensational events in the county. Not one news outlet bothered to report that Goochland holds two, and is hoping to secure a third, AAA bond rating. This is a feat unheard of for a county with a population under 30,000. Yet, TV cameras were recently happy to air footage of trash along our roadways. In the last few days, during a report on Covid vaccination statistics, WTVR Channel 6 did mention that Goochland has the highest vaccination rate in the Richmond region, if not the Commonwealth.

The influence of the postal service and telephone company further complicates matters. Many residents in the River Road corridor have Henrico addresses and Richmond phone exchanges. Their kids go to private schools and their real estate taxes are probably escrowed. Unless they write the check for personal property tax, they have no idea which jurisdiction they live in.  Indeed, it seems like many “east enders” sleep in Goochland and live their lives elsewhere.

At the conclusion of recognitions at the June 8 meeting of the Goochland School Board, Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Raley celebrated the pursuit of excellence that infuses every part of Goochland Schools, especially during the Covid lockdown. “It’s an honor to serve beside these great folks who are doing great things to serve our students and our families. We should be very proud of our public schools because we are truly shining in a number of ways. This is truly a very special place to be,” he said. (To watch school board meetings, go to https://goochlandschools.new.swagit.com/videos/122549)

Our school division will soon revamp its communication strategy to, as Raley said, “share the great work we are doing. We are on the cusp of a bond referendum and it’s important to educate the community about the good things going on in Goochland County Public Schools and to let them know that approval of the referendum will not raise taxes.”

It is highly likely the ballot for the November 2 general election will include a bond referendum to fund several capital projects, the largest of which is a new Goochland Elementary School. Should the referendum fail, the supervisors will explore alternate methods of financing to get the “best deal” for taxpayers.

At its June 8 meeting, the school board authorized execution of a contract with public relations firm BetsyOS PR LLC, (https://bospr.com) to examine and improve the way that GCPS gets the word out to parents and the community. These efforts will begin with a communications audit to determine the effectiveness of current information sharing practices and craft a strategy to raise community awareness of the vital work our schools are doing and explain the bond referendum. The firm will collaborate with GCPS to update its website and enhance use of social media to interact with parents and county residents.

Our schools and county government want Goochlanders to know what they’re doing. There is no excuse for saying “no one told me.”