Frigid February

 

More winter ahead?

The afternoon session of the Goochland Board of Supervisors’ February 3 meeting found three supervisors physically present. Neil Spoonhower District 2 was absent for a work commitment, but attended the evening session, and Charlie Vaughters, District 4, took time from “professional responsibilities” to attend virtually.

County Administrator Dr. Jeremy Raley, Ed.D. began his remarks by sharing a “debt of gratitude and appreciation for the amazing work of my teammates” for dealing with the dreadful weather conditions that have Goochland under siege. He commended the entire staff, regardless of role, for exceptional teamwork. He cited fire-rescue, the Sheriff’s Office, and animal protection for serving bravely and admirably under challenging conditions.

He cited Emergency Management Coordinator Robin Hillman and Maj. Mike East of the Sheriff’s Office for opening the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and staffing it around the clock. Dispatch, the county nerve center for emergency response, handled many calls and deployed fire-rescue units and personnel to two structure fires.

Jessica Kronberg, Director of Strategic Communications, and Paul Drumwright, Community Affairs Manager, kept citizens informed.

The Department of Social Servies opened a warming shelter and was ready to staff it. Animal protection officers provided water for livestock owners with frozen water sources. Deputies responded to motorists and others in need of assistance.

Raley commended the public utilities staff for responding to a water main break in Lower Tuckahoe in 14-degree weather. They waded into mud to restore service to affected homes before nightfall. During the water main break, Kronberg and Hillman worked with Raley using the new Everbridge emergency communications system to communicate with impacted citizens and even “geofence” specific homes to keep them informed of progress in restoration of their water service.

Consent agenda

Board meetings typically include a consent agenda of “housekeeping” matters that need formal board approval. The February 3 consent agenda included confirmation and termination of the state of emergency declared before the storm and after the last board meeting; change of the date of a joint capital improvement workshop with the school board; and several amendments to the county budget.

Typically, there is brief explanation of items on the consent agenda, after which a bulk vote is taken. A board member will sometimes request an item be removed from the consent agenda for a detailed discussion and separate vote.

One item, a $250,000 supplemental budget appropriation to the “outside counsel” line in the County Attorney’s budget, was pulled out for discussion and a separate vote. The amendment would provide funding for the defense of the county, board of supervisors, and the planning commission in litigation regarding the Technology Overlay District, which was filed and served in December. It is believed that TOD opponents who filed the lawsuit are raising at least $200k for legal fees to bring their suit.

During citizen comment, two residents contended that inclusion of the outside counsel funding in the consent agenda was intended to hide the appropriation from public scrutiny. The expenditure, they said, was a waste of taxpayer dollars because the county has its own attorney to handle litigation and seemed to imply that county attorney and her staff sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting for lawsuits to come in the door.

One speaker also raised suspicions that, because he saw surveyors on land in the TOD, some sort of development is underway there. He needs to keep an eye on the county geographic information system (GIS)  ( “parcel viewer” tab on the county website https://www.goochlandva.us/) that lists all permits issued on parcels, including things like land disturbance and plan of development, which must be completed  before any building can take place.

Jonathan Lyle, District 5, asked that the outside counsel appropriation item be removed from the consent agenda for discussion and action by the board.

County Attorney Tara McGee explained that the role of her office is to provide legal advice to the supervisors, county administration, employees, and departments. Many people, she said, do not understand that operations of a locality like Goochland are governed by many state and federal laws.

For instance, she said, everything that purchasing does “has to be pursuant to very detailed state laws.” Human resources must comply with many federal laws, which adds another layer of process.

“The Freedom of Information Act, a creature of state law, which governs not only how we get together here and notice and invite the public but also requires response to a growing number of requests for documents that your government does business through,” McGee said.

The county attorney provides legal advice with respect to land use, the topic of many public hearings, which is also entirely a state law process.

All proffers and conditions imposed in a rezoning case are subject to legal review to ensure that they are legal and enforceable. After rezoning is approved, said McGee, when a case is going through development, agreements for roads, environmental, storm water, bonds and other sureties are all reviewed by her office.

 “By state law, every contract, every MOU entered by this county has to be reviewed and approved as to form by the county attorney’s office. That takes up a lot of time,” she said.

The county attorney also writes ordinances, which are laws, and reviews every board agenda item for legality and proper procedure. McGee said that the agenda for that day’s meeting involved a great deal of work by her office.

Goochland County, explained McGee, is also involved in litigation in different ways. Violations of land use conditions, proffers, building and fire codes are all enforced by her office.

The county attorney’s office is involved in all defensive litigation against the county or its employees. McGee compared this to someone involved in an auto accident who has insurance. “When they’re defending you, since they’re going to pay the claim, they provide your counsel.”

Goochland, she said, has insurance coverage, whose standard terms for localities in Virginia includes coverage for attorneys who defend against land use litigation claims made against the county. McGee said that Goochland is taking advantage of that coverage because, given its routine workload, her office does not have staffing to support the operations needed for defensive litigation, which involves many hours in a tight time frame not established by clients.

Her office has, however, pulled together the substantial legislative record of the TOD with the assistance of all the departments engaged in it, indexed, and found the records. “It’s been a huge undertaking and that’s how we are supporting the litigation.”

 Her office has meetings on the facts, with which they are intimately familiar to develop strategy with outside counsel “not just because litigation is best done in a strategic manner, but to make sure that the vison of Goochland as a client is heard.”

McGee’s office also provides oversight and liaison between county employees who have the facts and outside counsel.

Files of previous county attorneys, said McGee, indicate that use of outside counsel is a long-standing policy, consistent with localities of Goochland’s size.

She said the request is to deal with an unforeseen expense.

Tom Winfree, District 3, said that the role of county attorney is analogous to that of a general practitioner physician, to keep track of routine matters.  Retention of outside counsel in extraordinary situations is like referral to a specialist.

Lyle thanked McGee for her explanation and hoped that the entire sum after insurance would not be used. “We have a board action that’s being challenged, and this is how the system works. As a litigant, we need to mount a robust detailing of our side of the story.”