Category: Louisa Government

Board of Supervisors and other local offices

Supervisor has been solid in many areas


To the editor:

Fitzgerald Barnes may have saved my life. He spearheaded a campaign to get the Blue Ridge Health District to run a series of COVID vaccination clinics locally at Louisa County Middle School. They vaccinated thousands of locals, including me.

I’ve been here 32 years, and I remember Fitz working on many issues that have brought good things to the county while protecting what we value most. He has worked for Patrick Henry District residents but has been a leader in making the county a better place to live, work and attend school.

Early on, Fitz supported creating first-class parks and recreation facilities and offerings. Citizens made clear in comprehensive plan meetings that they wanted more recreational opportunities for children and adults. Over 20 years ago, there was a referendum on the ballot to fund a swimming pool. Voters passed it, but the board delayed building it for 10 years. Fitz’s support was instrumental in getting the pool built and improving athletic fields and programs. He has always been a supporter, then and now, of the parks department.

He’s also been a consistent supporter of the public schools, improving them and aspiring for excellence. He has supported increasing teacher pay to be more equitable so we can retain good teachers. The latest project on the board is building a vocational center, a much-needed addition for students who do not intend to go to college but still need skills to make a living.

But that’s not all, as they say. Fitz has supported bringing broadband to the county, and helped create the broadband authority, which has spurred the development of broadband by installing towers and leasing space to private internet providers. Once it was clear that there was a market in Louisa County, private towers also started going up. The struggle continues with fiber development by local utilities. Barnes has been on the frontlines of this, helping negotiate the contract with Central Virginia Electric Cooperative to provide fiber networks across the county.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. That’s always been a Barnes priority. He’s been instrumental in bringing several large employers to Louisa. He worked to develop the Zion Crossroads area and Route 250 as places for companies to build warehouses, job facilities and mixed-use residential. Fitz helped bring in local employers like Walmart and its distribution warehouse, Lowes, the Ferncliff Business Park and, coming soon – an Amazon warehouse.

With more jobs, facilities and broadband come more people. This draws medical facilities, restaurants and grocery stores to the area. Our west end is growing to accommodate those who live there and those who live in the broader county. I can now go to the doctor, get medical tests, and have physical therapy locally at Zion Crossroads. Then I can have lunch at Rhett’s Grill before heading home.

We all love the idea of getting more good restaurants, more and better retail shopping and grocery stores. Fitz is working on it. He is committed to keeping those developments in areas designated for growth, instead of sprawling everywhere and ruining the rural character of the county we love.

As a Louisa resident, I think that Fitzgerald Barnes should not only be re-elected as Patrick Henry supervisor, but we should elect more supervisors like him who want to work for the people instead of a party. Let’s elect supervisors who work for all the residents of Louisa County.

Joanna Hickman
Louisa
This letter was previously published in the latest edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.

Current supervisor has been an asset

To the editor:
I hear a lot about Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes supporting business in Louisa. I would like to remind people that he pushed to get the Betty J. Queen Intergenerational Center funded, and the swimming pool, too. Those facilities and the programs they support are just as important to me as business development. Fitz works hard to better all aspects of life in Louisa.

Sue Rayburn
Louisa

Administrator’s Note: This letter was originally published in the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.

Frustrated with Supervisors

The Louisa County Board of Supervisors has demonstrated its inability to pursue the stated core value of stewardship in a number of ways. I expect it will continue on the path of spoiling and destroying the county’s resources to chase down the mythical beast called economic development. It’s likely that the quality for thinking ahead has never been a strong requirement to serve on the board. Otherwise, we would’ve had results better than we’ve seen.

Before going too far, let me clarify that the county’s resources include not only natural resources, but also tax dollars and the citizens that pay them. The supervisors have seen fit to lay waste to these categories. And, I’ll apologize if I missed some details along the way, but in general, Louisa County citizens have to pay closer attention to, and prioritize, those resources that are especially significant. In my opinion, that would be water.

Right now, it’s being squandered in the name of a promised economic
development that may likely not happen. At least not without placing
an excessive burden on the citizens. It wasn’t that long ago that the supervisors claimed to have hearings about the level of groundwater relative to Spring Creek.

Dr. Nick Evans, a recognized expert in hydrogeology, presented an understandable analytical explanation of the potential risks to the groundwater in the county. The supervisors obviously ignored that report – easy enough to to if it hadn’t been read – in favor of a more familiar “disunderstanding” offered by Pam Baughman, Louisa County Water Authority general manager. Despite her lack of technical expertise, the supervisors allowed her to make the defense for development anyway.

On May 20 of this year, The Central Virginian posted a warning on its Facebook page to run both the cold and hot water, until it was clear. There were no other details I could find about this incident but it should be counted as one indicator, among many, that the stewardship by the supervisors, foresight in particular, won’t be counted as a feature of a functioning board.

We have droughts and oppressive heat in other parts of the country. Around the world, actually. Somehow, the supervisors must’ve deliberated and voted that Louisa County is an exclusion zone from the perils of the rest of the world. That’s not only negligence, but arrogance as well.

The Nestle Company diverted water from the local citizens’ water supply in Michigan to operate its water bottling plant. The concern was focused on environmental impact of the water withdrawals and the impact of privatizing water resources.

The Bechtel Company devised a scheme where the citizens of Bolivia had to pay for rainwater they collected for personal use. This was in 2006. Fortunately, the citizens fought Bechtel and won.

The Timmons Group has been successful in influencing the supervisors to push forward projects that aren’t always in the best interest of Louisa County citizens. I keep waiting to see how long the supervisors persist in abusing the public before there’s an appropriate backlash.

Joe Mikolajczak
Gordonsville

This letter was previously published in the July 8, 2021 edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.

BOS CORE VALUE OF INTEGRITY

Honesty, straightforwardness, and strong moral principles are closely related. My perception of the Board of Supervisors makes me doubt its ability to satisfy Integrity as one of its Core Values. I’ve seen little to persuade me and wonder how many others are as unconvinced as I am. A large part of the Board’s image, I believe, is of its own making. The anecdote of the corporate board meeting best describes the workings of the people Louisa Citizens elected to fulfill that public office.

“Think of board members having a discussion about financing the corporation’s infrastructure. There may be one or two with the knowledge and experience to adequately address all the important points. When the meeting turns to purchasing equipment and other facility resources, maybe half the members are able to have an intelligent conversation. When the agenda item finally reaches what brand of coffee should be provided in the company kitchen, they’re all experts.”

That’s pretty much the view I have of the Board, except that any expertise with the functioning of high-level finances and operations is overly exaggerated. Basically, there’s no evidence I’ve seen to contradict my view. If someone has that kind of information, it would help to share it with the rest of us.

In the meantime, the Board continues to give the false impression of a competence that’s been bought and paid for with props provided by the likes of Timmons Group. The Board hides its lack of expertise for a reason, to display an aura of authority and omniscience, which is a dangerous combination to those of us who are subjected to it. It certainly has the “authority” to abuse but lacks the omniscience necessary for wisdom. Over time, the perpetuation of that combination results in the kind of mismanagement we get to see from the officials we elected to pursue our best interest, instead of theirs.

Where I see dishonesty, and the accompanying lack of Integrity, is the mercenary approach the Board takes to deceive Louisa that it has the requisite understanding of local government functions. You hire an expert to tell you want you want to hear and convince everyone else in the process.

How many times, over how many issues, have the citizens of Louisa been lulled into a false expectation that the Board would respond to its wishes and concerns? Until the Monacan Nation pursued legal remedies, the Board had no hesitation squandering taxpayer dollars by ignoring the legitimacy of technical facts from citizens in favor of the toxic pablum disseminated by the likes of Timmons Group.

The people of Louisa still have to learn that the Board serves the people. That would be the best way to extract the Integrity that belongs to us.

These are my perceptions based on what I’ve seen and the Board hasn’t shown.

“Perception is Reality.”

Joe Mikolajczak
Gordonsville

This letter was previously published in the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission. You may find the original at The Central Virginian

County needs to slow down on business park 

I see in last week’s Central Virginian that Louisa County Economic Development Director Andy Wade is once again proposing that we spend $2.5 million to plan and buy easements for bringing utilities to the proposed Shannon Hill Business Park. He’s not only asking to put his request in the budget, he’s also asking to fast-forward the process so that the money would be available immediately rather than after July 1.

He is asking to spend this money for a project that has been dogged with problems. Parts of the due diligence report, on which further site study must be based and costs calculated, are not completed. We know this site has rugged terrain which will be a problem. These problems have not been solved and we have no information as to the cost.

Is this another government project where the taxpayers are seen as a bottomless pit whose money can be used so carelessly, without knowing the cost and feasibility of the project?

Just recently we saw what happened by pushing ahead with a plan in which we did not have all our ducks lined up. We put money into a pumping station on the James River at a location that was known to be the historic capital of the Monacans. We were warned that this would be a problem, but on the advice of our subcontractor, Timmons Group, we ignored that and plowed ahead until we were brought to heel by the Department of Historic Resources and the threat of overwhelming lawsuits. We lost the money we had put into the location.

 Timmons, the contractor who advised them to ignore the claims of the Monacans and hired unqualified people to try to get around laws regarding artifacts on historic sites, is the same contractor doing the engineering on this project. This should raise some eyebrows.

 We need to slow down. We do not know whether this park will be built. In every public hearing, the room has been filled with Louisa citizens saying, “We don’t want this kind of development in Louisa.” It’ It’s way too soon to commit more money to this project.

Mary Kranz
Louisa

This letter was previously printed in The Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.

No due diligence for business park

Louisa County government has been promoting the Shannon Hill business park entirely on the basis of its proximity to Interstate 64. That is a valid point. That might be a good place for such an investment if there is a good site and if good infrastructure is conveniently and economically available for the property that was purchased.

About the same time that the board of supervisors finally, and possibly illegally, approved the millions of dollars spent to purchase the business park property, they entered into a contract with Timmons Engineering for what was called a due diligence study. Basically it was to advise the county on how to develop the land they had purchased, after the same company had advised them to buy it.

There are lots of different things to evaluate in such a study. Costs and best method of developing the property; earthmoving; paving; utilities, environmental, cultural, and historical considerations; transportation access, etc.

Those were listed as the contract’s objectives.

That contract came into effect almost two years ago. Timmons made a presentation to the board in 2020, apparently accepted without comment, laying out what they called their “final plan” for the property’s development. It was basically an elaboration of previous material from our county planning department showing how one could arrange a number of large buildings on a flattened map of the project. No cost estimates have been provided, as far as I know, for grading and basically resurfacing around 600 acres of one of the more challenging sites in the vicinity.

As per previous publicity, no serious study has been made addressing how the site connects by the existing transportation corridor with most of the county and points north. They have published some existing traffic counts along route 605 and their subcontractor’s report on archeological and historical concerns. The “final plan” presented to the board did not clearly address these issues.

The due diligence study contract has not yet been completed, to the best of my knowledge. Some of the promised preliminary engineering reports are not yet available. Those are what the “final plan” is supposed to be based on. That is only common sense and actually is what their contract stipulates.

County Economic Development Director Andy Wade is now asking, in a public hearing scheduled for March 1, to give Timmons Engineering $2.5 million more just to study how best to spend an additional minimum $20-plus million (their figure) to build a pipeline for water and sewage from Ferncliff with an unestablished source, plus sewage pipe and pumping to take everything all the way back to Zion Crossroads to be treated and put into the South Anna back another 14 miles downstream. They have reported concerns about the possibility of unknown costs and risks in having to tunnel under the interstate and the Colonial Gas pipeline.

And they want this contract expedited. Seems a little greedy, in the least. Are we going to learn from the ancient wisdom stories about throwing good money after bad? In the meantime, what about using that beautiful forest property for citizens’ nature and recreation pursuits? Surely we can do better.

William Hale
Louisa

This letter was previously printed in The Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.