The organizational meeting of the Goochland County Board of
Supervisors, held on January 2, was short, lasting a bit more than an hour,
including a public hearing. All supervisors, Jonathan Christy, District 1; Neil
Spoonhower, District 2, Tom Winfree, District 3, Charlie Vaughters, District 4,
and Jonathan Lyle, District 5 were present.
As is its tradition, the board begins the calendar year by
electing a new chair and vice chair. Vaughters and Winfree respectively were
chosen.
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| Charlie Vaughters (l) and Tom Winfree |
Neil Spoonhower, District 2, who served as board chair for both 2022 and 2023, presided over some very contentious meetings with grace and dignity. Thanks Neil, for being there.
Following the election, the board adopted, as it does
annually, a code of ethics and standards of conduct for both the board and county
appointees. These are posted at the back of the board meeting room to honor a
suggestion made by the late Don Sharpe when he was District 4 supervisor to
remind the board that it serves the citizens.
The rules of procedure were amended to include clear
guidelines about how far in advance of a public hearing—five days—revised proffers
may be submitted for consideration. While the rules of procedure do allow the
board, at its discretion, to accept last minute proffer changes, let’s hope
that the supervisors understand that voting on last minute revised proffers
that may not have been vetted by staff, or shared with the public could lead to
unintended consequences and nullifies expectations of transparency in
conducting business.
Another excellent change is that public hearings will not
start after 11 p.m. The procedures now state that “Any public hearing advertised
for a regular meeting but not conducted can be carried over and heard on the
Reserved Date, or rescheduled to another earliest possible convenient date
without further advertising when the date and time of the reconvened meeting is
publicly announced at the preceding meeting.”
Given that public hearings in other parts of the state have
lasted overnight into the next day, it’s prudent to have this contingency on
the books.
Vaughters said that he is “humbled and grateful for the trust
put into me by Goochland voters in November and by my fellow supervisors and
being asked to serve and Board Chair for the year 2024. Thriving, well-run, and
a great place to live are words and phrases that come to mind when I think
about how best to describe Goochland County. I’m confident this will be the
case for decades and generations to come. This board and our outstanding staff and
leadership will work tirelessly to make that occur.”
He asked citizens to reach out to their supervisor with any
ideas or concerns. “Know that you have a team on this dais committed to serving
all the residents in Goochland County,” said Vaughters.
County Administrator Vic Carpenter said that, due to icy
conditions, at least five wrecks occurred that morning on Rt. 288 and I64. There
is potential for more winter weather on the coming weekend. County fire-rescue
and deputies are out there and “have your back.” He also said that county
offices will be closed on January 15 for the Martin Luther King Federal holiday.
VDOT report
Marshall Winn, Administrator of the Ashland VDOT Residency,
welcomed the new supervisors. He explained that the Oilville area headquarters oversees
roads in Goochland from Rt. 522 east to the Henrico County line and that Sandy Hook
area headquarters those from Rt. 522 west to the Fluvanna Count line.
Winn said that the morning’s icy conditions on the Rt. 288
flyover were not expected, but that VDOT is ready for whatever severe weather
the weekend brings.
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| Icy conditions snarled Rt 288 traffic on January 2 (Goochland fire-rescue photo) |
Broadband report
Community Affairs Manager Paul Drumwright presented an
update on broadband expansion in the county. He said that the project is on
track. All parts of the project funded by grants must be completed by the end
of 2025, but Drumwright is optimistic that it will be finished well before that
deadline.
Middle mile work by Dominion Power in the Hadensville Fife
area, 28 miles of fiber, is complete. Now they are focusing on the Columbia
area into the first quarter of 2024.
Drumwright mentioned the video that Firefly posted on its
Facebook page about connecting Goochland and Powhatan with fiber optic cable
installed over the James River under the Maidens Road bridge.
The entire report is in the board packet beginning on page
114.
Consent agenda
The consent agenda consists of items that require board
approval, but little discussion and no citizen input.
Roads in section I of Tuckahoe Bridge were accepted into the
secondary system of state highways for maintenance.
The fiscal 2024 county budget was amended to budget and appropriate
$442,298 in the school operating fund due to state budget amendments to support
tutoring, attendance improvements, implementation of the Virginia Literacy Act,
a two percent salary increase, reduction of support staff cap and grant related
costs. No local match is required. A $109,469 amendment and appropriation for
Title IA and ID in the school operating fund, also not needing a local match.
Deferral of public hearing on an amendment to the Access Management
ordinance, originally scheduled for the February 6 meeting to March because it
was the only scheduled public hearing for that meeting.
Authorization for the County Administrator to execute a
contract with HBA Architecture & Interior Design, Inc., for Architectural
and Engineering services for the West Creek Fire-Rescue Station. Nine proposals
were generated by an RFP issued by the county last June. HBA was selected as
the firm best suited to meet the country’s needs. The contract amount $752,350,
was approved as part of the FY24 capital improvement plan. (Go to page 144 in
the January board packet to read the entire contract.)
Board appointments
Supervisors represent Goochland on regional boards. Appointments
to these were made as follows:
Central Virginia Transportation Authority—Seat one Spoonhower;
seat two Winfree.
Richmond Regional Transportation Authority—Lyle
Capital Region Workforce—Christy, alternate staff appointee.
Board Audit and finance Committee—Vaughters and Winfree.
Other appointments
Betsy Wright was reappointed to the recreation advisory
board.
Public Hearing
A public hearing on an application for a conditional use
permit for a detached family accessory housing unit on2.68 acres at 149 Art
Road in District 5 was unanimously approved. The applicant plans to demolish an
old structure and replace it with a new home. Conditions include that only members
of the same family may occupy both dwelling units.
An archived video of the meeting is available on the county website https://www.goochlandva.us/ under the “watch county meetings” tab. The board packet is available https://goochlandcountyva.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1419&Inline=True
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