May 14, 2025: Meetings today in Charlotte County and Hanover County

Plus: Albemarle County Supervisors to meet with Scottsville Town Council

May 14, 2025

This newsletter would be more effective if it came out before the day in which various meetings are being listed. The goal in the future is to begin to stitch together about how local government works across a region covered by one Congressional district. Until a few years ago, districts were so chopped up that it would have been hard to do what I am trying to do.

Doing this work allows me to begin to see how the Charlottesville area fits into a bigger canvas. There is certainly a different political culture in the northern part of the district but localities in all of them have to work together on a variety of issues.

One of those is regional water supply planning. A new regulation requires localities in the same river basin to work together to develop regional plans. These are due by 2029 and I had a story last week about the role the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is playing here.

In this edition there are two brief mentions of what other localities are doing. Charlotte County is asking to be reassigned. Hanover County will plan with the City of Richmond, with that locality taking the lead. How will all of this play out in a world where political division doesn’t encourage compromise?

In any case, I have a vision for what I want this newsletter to be and I don’t have a non-profit board or any stakeholders telling me what you should think. All I have is a voice in the back of my head telling me that this is a worthwhile challenge so I’ll give it my all.

Charlotte Supervisors to confirm request for county to move to different water supply planning area

Each locality organizes the meeting agenda differently. A thing to like about Charlotte County is that they have a cover for each meeting packet as well as a table of contents. The cover image for the May 2025 Board of Supervisors evokes spring. (agenda)

The Board of Supervisors will meet at 1 p.m. in the county administration building. They start with an accessibility statement, an invocation, the Pledge of Allegiance, approval of the agenda, and approval of recent minutes.

There is a public hearing for a conditional use permit for a convenience store and gas station at 17700 Kings Highway in Wyllliesburg. A business called Sundae’s Restaurant formerly operated on the spot.

There will be three resolutions of appreciation for years of service including one for a long-time member of the Board of Supervisors who recently resigned after agreeing to an Alford plea on five counts of perjury and other charges. Gary Walker served as the Charlotte Court House District representative from January 1996 to March 2025.

In April, the remaining supervisors appointed Sherry Tharpe to serve as the District A Supervisor until the next election on November 4. The vote was 5 to 1 with Supervisor Henry Carwile voting no.

After those resolutions, Supervisors will vote on the application for the convenience store and gas station.

There will be an update from the Virginia Department of Transportation as well as one from Dominion on various solar projects. You can get a preview of the latter in this report.

After the public comments section, there will be an approval of the school system’s budget for the next fiscal year.

Then Supervisors will discuss a request the county is making to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality seeking to be moved to a different water supply planning area.

“Charlotte County was placed in the Roanoke River 3 Regional Planning Area with Mecklenburg and Halifax Counties,” reads a staff report. “Staff are of the opinion that the neighboring Chowan River 1 region is a better fit for us since the Commonwealth Regional Council will be assisting with their plan.”

Then there are a series of appointments followed by a series of reports.

Then a series of other county business items. Unfortunately this is one of the days I need to get moving.

Quiet meeting in Hanover County

The Board of Supervisors in Hanover County will meet at 1 p.m. in the Board Room of the county administration building at 7516 County Complex Road in Hanover. (agenda)

This is a short agenda that begins with awards to employees for their service. Then the regular meeting itself begins at 2 p.m. with invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. Then there is “citizens’ time” followed by adoption of the consent agenda.

Then there will be a presentation on third quarter financial reports for FY2025.

Then there is a closed meeting under Virginia Code § 2.2-3711(A) (1) for a Performance Review of the County Administrator and County Attorney. Hanover County does not post the language of code in their closed meeting call.

Here are those consent agenda items:

There is a resolution to authorize a public hearing to amend county code to reflect new state law on who needs to fill out financial disclosure funds. (staff report)
There is a resolution for administrative approval of the extension of a special exception permit for the Slavic Evangelical Church to have a temporary modular classroom. They’ve not raised enough funds for a building project and seek more time. (staff report)
There is a resolution for administrative approval for a new agreement with Goochland County to operate in the Pamunkey Regional Library. King and Queen County dropped out of the system. (staff report)
There is a resolution to approve $90,000 from various opioid settlements to contribute toward the cost of expansion of a Recovery Court. (staff report)
There is a resolution to authorize increases in compensation for members of boards and commissions including Supervisors. (staff report)
There is a resolution to approve Hanover County’s participation in the Middle James River 3 Regional Water Supply Planning. (staff report)

*A table in the staff report for the resolution regarding increases in compensation for members of boards and commissions*

Albemarle County Supervisors to meet with Scottsville Town Council

Virginia has fewer political subdivisions than most states. Cities and counties are independent of each other, though counties can have towns within.

Scottsville is a town within Albemarle with a portion in Fluvanna County. Towns set many of their own policies and have the ability to levy real estate tax. There’s also separate zoning and separate governance in the form of a Town Manager and a Town Council elected by residents.

The Albemarle Board of Supervisors will check in with the Scottsville Town Council at 7 p.m. in Victory Hall. The event will be live-streamed with that link in the meeting info page.

The agenda includes a memo that sets out all of the areas of collaboration between county and town.

Meeting that have already happened this week:

This is incomplete and a new feature. These are just links to YouTube links but I’ll think more in the future about how to get the rest in here, too.

The Mecklenburg County Board of Supervisors met for over three hours on Monday. The link is here.
The Buckingham County Board of Supervisors met for just over an hour on Monday. The link is here.
The Nelson County Board of Supervisors met Tuesday afternoon and again Tuesday evening.

Fifth District Community Engagement

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