JCC Supes Agree to Make Board Selection Public

By Desiree Parker Wednesday, January 04, 2012

The James City County Board of Supervisors had some disagreements at their organizational meeting Tuesday, but managed to agree that the vacancy on the board will be filled through an interview process to be done publicly.

Board member John McGlennon said he hoped citizens would apply, or would suggest people whom they would like to see apply.

Board members had some heated words over the vacant Jamestown District seat Tuesday. Kennedy was unhappy with reports that Supervisors John McGlennon and Jim Icenhour may have discussed the issue together without including the rest of the board, and he said that Democratic board members had consistently failed to communicate with Republican board members and instead had been using the press to share their thoughts.

McGlennon argued that Kennedy and Chair Mary Jones had also discussed the vacancy, which he said was no different. Kennedy said he had told Jones that he would support Planning Commissioner Rich Krapf to fill the Powhatan seat should Icenhour shift districts.

Kennedy said he would have liked Icenhour, who was redistricted into the Jamestown district from his Powhatan district, to accept the Jamestown seat.

Icenhour said he did not want to be appointed to the seat and wanted to fulfill his obligation to the Powhatan citizens for the time being. He has filed to run in the special election in Nov. 2012 for the Jamestown seat, though, he told the board.

Kennedy didn’t like the idea that two supervisors currently live in the Jamestown District, and he noted that if Icenhour doesn’t switch the board will be facing the same appointment process in a year should Icenhour win.

Though the Board agreed on a public process to fill the seat, Icenhour asked that the board select a new member who has no party affiliation so that, for contentious decisions, “we have to make the case to each other in order to get that third vote.”

Many board members said they had heard of citizens interested in filling the vacated seat. The Board has already received emails of interest from three people: John Stein, owner of Harbour Coffee in New Town and New Town resident, and Robert Hershberger, former Vice President at the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance, who also lives in New Town, are two, Kennedy told WYDaily.

New Town is in the new Jamestown District.

The county administrator will work on crafting an application for people interested in the Jamestown seat and the board will then make it public. Look on the county website to see what neighborhoods are in the district.

The board will take up discussion on the issue at their Jan. 10 meeting; they have roughly one month to decide on the appointee, so the time people have to submit applications will be necessarily short.