Monday, June 16, 2025: Two contested Supervisors in Appomattox County
Plus: Meetings in Louisa County and the City of Charlottesville
I feel a tremendous sense of satisfaction when I can get these out on the day before the meetings! This is always aided when the bulk of the content for a particular day has already been written as part of the Week Ahead edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement.
This is also the second edition that features information on upcoming legislative races. I wrote up Lunenburg County last time where there are three Supervisors seats up for election and all three are uncontested? How do things stand in Appomattox County? Let’s find out!
After all, this is a newsletter built on research and shared with anyone who wants to read it. Let’s get started!
Quiet meeting for the Appomattox County Board of Supervisors
The Appomattox County Board of Supervisors will meet at 6 p.m. in their meeting room at 171 Price Lane in Appomattox. (agenda packet)
Two people will make appearances after the usual items you’d see at the beginning of a meeting.
The first is from Alec Brebner, executive director of the Central Virginia Planning Commission. He wants to provide an update on the VoTech Center.
The second is from Teresa Davis, the county’s Community Engagement Coordinator. She wants to give an update as well.
There are five action items.
The first is on a resolution to appropriate $58,150,760 in expenditures for the 2026 budget. (review the item)
The second is for a special use permit for a 4th of July Celebration to be held on June 28 at Cole’s Farm at 10063 Red House Road. (learn more)
The third relates to several tax refund requests from the Commissioner of the Revenue. (take a look)
The fourth is to schedule a public hearing for a conditional use permit for a wedding and special events venue at 1433 Piney Mountain Road. (no materials)
The fifth is to schedule a public hearing for changes to the zoning ordinance to reflect changes that have come out of a recent review process. (no materials)
That’s about it for that meeting. They’ll be back on July 21, 2025.
Stories about Appomattox County
New community food pantry set to open in Appomattox this summer, Brian Carlton, Farmville Herald, May 20, 2025
New superintendent steps in at Appomattox County Public Schools, Brigette Kelly, WSET, May 29, 2025
Town of Appomattox to commemorate centennial with free weekend celebration, Rachel Tillapaugh, WSET, June 5, 2025
Appomattox County students win scholarships, Altavista Journal, June 12, 2025
A look at the race for two Supervisor seats in Appomattox County
One of the reasons I began to do this newsletter again is because the Appomattox Times-Virginian suddenly folded in February. How will people there get information about local elections and local government?
I can report that the seats in the Courthouse District and Piney Mountain District race are up. Both appear to be contested given information available at publication.
Independent Samuel E. Carter has represented the Courthouse District since at least 2001. The Virginia Department of Elections only has results since after 2000. Carter was elected in 2001 when he defeated Alfred L. Jones III 414 votes to 378 votes.
Carter faced opposition in 2005 and 2009, but had no challenge in 2013 or in 2017. In 2021 he defeated his opponent 685 votes to 515 votes. The Times-Virginian had coverage of that year’s election.
James Boyce filed in February to run as an independent in the race. He has raised $300 so far according to campaign finance reports made available by the Virginia Public Access Project. That’s from a loan he made to himself. (take a look)
According to an October 2024 article on the Times-Virginian, Boyce is a 45-year resident of Appomattox County and a veteran of the U.S. Navy.
VPAP shows Carter listed as a candidate. If there were a full-fledged media organization, we’d reach out to check for sure.
Alfred L. Jones III has been the Piney Mountain District Supervisor since 2021 when he faced no opposition. He filed for r-election earlier this month and will face opposition.
Valarie Taylor filed in May to run as an independent for the seat. Sadly, the Times-Virginian has no article about her candidacy and a rudimentary search does not yield much.
Neither appears to have raised any money yet. I’ll check back in on this race sometime around Labor Day.
Funding what I’m doing will help rebuild a robust reporting network.
Charlottesville City Council to learn about forthcoming zoning changes, approve financing for jail renovation
The five members of the Charlottesville City Council will meet at 4 p.m. for a work session followed by the regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. (agenda packet)
So much can be learned from the work sessions. There are so many in recent months I’ve not been able to write up. I write out parts of the discussions out of a belief that people should be able to read about policy changes. I had to take a break while writing this paragraph to audit what I’ve been able to write up this year.
The topic this time around is a discussion of the Neighborhood Development Services Work Plan as well as a preview of the changes to the zoning code that are underway this summer. I was able to write up the Planning Commission’s discussion on the latter if you want to get a preview.
Council will go into closed session for two purposes. The first is to resume discussion of the appointment of two people to the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s Board of Directors as well as a performance review for City Manager Sam Sanders.
The meeting will resume in open session at 6:30 p.m.
There are four items on the consent agenda. Another story I was not able to write up was a discussion of the increase in utility rates. A search on Google News indicates no one else wrote it up either. I feel l have let you down. I’ll go through this tomorrow to see if anyone spoke at the public hearing on June 2. I wrote up other stories from that meeting, but did not get to this one. (staff report)
The Human Rights Commission will give their annual report as part of the City Manager’s report. You can take a look here. View the presentation.
There are several public hearings to appropriate $23.3 million in additional funds from the Virginia Department of Transportation for seven projects.
“With the continued rise in construction costs, the City's VDOT representative sought and secured additional funds for the projects,” reads the staff report.
Even though the scope of the Barracks Emmet Streetscape project has been reduced, there is an additional $495,738
The cost estimate for the Emmet Street Corridor Streetscape has increased to $21.55 million and VDOT identified an additional $5.25 million in funding
The cost estimate to replace the Dairy Road Bridge has increased to over $12.6 million and VDOT identified an additional $5.4 million
The cost estimate for the East High Streetscape has increased to $18 million and VDOT identified nearly $11.4 million in additional funding
A project to make pedestrian improvements at Preston Avenue and Harris Street has increased from $245,725 in December 2021 to $656,526
Another project to make pedestrian improvements at 10th and Grady increased from $500,106 in February 2023 to $827,235
A project to build a connector trail through Washington Park will get an additional $19,235 for a total budget of $493,250.
The second public hearing is for a lease renewal for the Blue Ridge Coalition for the Homeless to rent a portion of CitySpace. Learn more about that here.
The third public hearing is on additional funds for the Community Development Block Grant program and the HOME program. Learn more about that here.
Then there will be the second reading of an appropriation of $8.69 million from the Capital Improvement Plan Contingency Fund for various purposes. I wrote a story about the first reading here.
Up next is an approval for the permanent financing sought by the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail for their renovations project. Unlike the Albemarle Board of Supervisors this week, there is a staff report that describes what the various pieces are and what the city will pay.
“The City would be responsible for 39.54 percent of the total debt service, equaling $736,152 in FY 26, $989,091 in FY 27 and FY 28, and roughly $1,040,000 annually from FY 29- 53, for a total of $28,714,462 using current data provided on page 11 of the attached Presentation,” reads the staff report.
The staff report does not indicate what changes might have been made to the project following the receipt of five bids for the renovation that were over budget.
For that, we go to the ACRJ meeting from June 12 and a staff report that tells us that English Construction Company submitted the lowest bid at $53,954,159. Negotiations got underway soon after to bring the cost down to $39 million, the number the permanent financing is based on.
“The reduced scope of work will focus primarily of the original 1975 portion of the facility that has not received any significant renovations in the last 50 years, referred to as phase 1a and 1b in the initial plan,” reads the ACRJ staff report. “All remaining budgeted funds will be directed to phases 2, 3 and 4 also referred to as the 1975 portion that has received some renovations during the 2000 expansion and renovation.”
The materials for this vote are the same as present at the June 2, 2025 meeting.
Next up there is a resolution to add more money to the fund that is used to cover tax and rent relief programs. The city had budgeted $2.718 million in FY2025 for this purpose but the actual amount used has been $3,035,611.
“The FY 2025 Budget will be amended by $317,611 to reflect the actual amount of tax and rent relief granted to qualified applicants,” reads the staff report.
Recent work at apartment complexes at the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority has involved the use of low-income housing tax credits. That has resulted in several Limited Liability Corporations to be created for each site.
Council will be asked to approve the creation of one for the forthcoming redevelopment of Westhaven and Sixth Street Phase Two. (staff report)
Two more items left on the agenda. The first is the appointment of a new assessor. The website for the office still lists Jeffrey S. Davis in the position but there is a resolution to approve the appointment of William David Milton as the new person in charge. He has been the city’s commercial appraiser since 2018. (staff report)
The final act is another confidential settlement. I wish I had time to audit all of these the same way I was able to audit my own work on worksessions. But, over the last ten years, how many confidential settlements have been paid out? How many more in the next ten years? Do other communities do this?
Sometimes there are many more questions than answers.
Louisa Supervisors headline to discuss establishment of housing trust, application for SAFER grant
The seven members of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors will meet at 5 p.m for a closed session followed by an open session at 6 p.m. The agenda does not tell us what the closed meeting will be about. (agenda packet)
We learn from the draft minutes from June 2, 2025 meeting that Supervisors met in closed session to discuss “discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property in the Mineral and Cuckoo districts, for a public purpose, where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body.”
We also learn that Louisa Supervisors discussed a new “Future Revenue Plan” which seeks to provide transparency and help better plan financing for infrastructure projects to reduce debt.
We also learn that Supervisors deferred action on a request from the Planning Commission to conduct a build-out analysis for the county using a consultant.
There are two discussion items. One of them relates to the possibility of creating an affordable housing trust and a community land trust. The materials come from the Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation. (learn more)
The second is on an amendment to the by-laws for the Louisa County Airport Advisory Committee. (learn more)
Under unfinished business there will be a continued discussion on changes to the Land Development Regulations. (learn more)
Under new business, Supervisors will consider a payment to supplement the Bumpass Volunteer Fire Company’s replacement of a tanker truck which was recently totaled. The company will get $247,500 in insurance proceeds and has another $50,000 they can spend. They’re requesting the county contribute the $128,978 difference toward the $426,478 cost for a new tanker. (learn more)
There’s also a resolution to apply for a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to hire professional firefighters.
“The health and safety of departmental staff and the County's growing response requirements are critically important, and nine (9) additional career staff are needed to assist with ensuring safe and adequate response and to reduce response times in the face of growing demand in several areas of the County,” reads the staff report.
Albemarle took this approach to hire several dozen firefighters and that cost is slowly being borne by the county. That’s a major factor in the four cent increase on the real estate tax adopted by Supervisors earlier this year.
“The annual cost for the additional staff is approximately $1,007,277, plus a one-time cost in year one for uniforms of $54,000 and if awarded, the grant will provide 75 percent of all usual employee costs for the first two years and 35 percent of those costs for the third year of the three-year grant period, following which those costs are the responsibility of the governing body,” the report continues.
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors will meet again on July 7.