JCC Applicants for Board Seat Discuss Budget, Tie-Breaking, Schools

By Desiree Parker Tuesday, February 07, 2012

James City County’s Board of Supervisors held interviews with six candidates for the vacant Jamestown District seat Tuesday night, and some common themes throughout the interviews were a desire to be a conciliator and concerns over the budget.

Candidates all agreed that the budget shortfall facing the county was one of the most important challenges in the near future. The candidates varied on their thoughts on what the county should do on how to tackle the school system’s funding.

Each candidate noted a desire to be a moderate voice of compromise on a divisive board.

Each interviewee’s application is available on the county website and Supervisor Jim Kennedy said citizens are invited to contact applicants to ask questions or talk about issues before the Board makes its selection. Citizens are also welcome to share thoughts on the applicants with the Board.

The Board is set to discuss the candidates next Tuesday evening at its regular meeting. The full interviews are available to view online at any time.

Robin Bledsoe

Bledsoe said there were three things she would look for in a successful candidate: leadership, consensus-building and developing public trust. These are qualities she feels in her current job helping nonprofits develop through B and D Capacity Builders (she is also currently the Executive Director at the Heritage Humane Society).

It’s important, she said, that “the public knows we are honest, and people can trust us” as leaders.

Though she does not belong to a political party or group, Bledsoe said she has recently supported Republican candidates because “I truly believed they were the best for the position.” She has also supported and voted for Democrats in the past, as well, she said.

“I prefer to think of myself as independent,” she told the Board.

As for how she might help the Board work better together on tough issues, Bledsoe said she feels the Board members are “reasonable people” who clearly feel strongly about what they believe. Bledsoe said, “I believe I am as neutral as they come,” and in her line of work she has learned that when making decisions “it’s never been about me, it’s been about an issue [and] the public.”

The budget is one main challenge Bledsoe said faces the county – namely that the Board is facing “services and needs” of citizens that may be “almost greater than what you can provide” within revenues.

As a parent with kids who have gone through the local school system, Bledsoe said the county should maintain the quality of education “at all costs.”

She said her aim would be to put “all the options on the table” as far as what might be able to be changed or cut, and that keeping taxes low should be the goal “but not at the cost of education.” She pointed out that in Northern Virginia, school systems had cut administrative costs and instituted a “pay-to-play” sports program to help plug budget gaps.

Bledsoe also said, “I don’t ever spend more than what I have, and I would expect the same for us as a Board.”

As for county growth, Bledsoe said the county “needs to bring more big business into the area,” and bring in different types of businesses, especially those that offer higher wages. She also said she supported the business incubator, and hoped the county would work harder to use social media to promote county programs.

Kelly Mihalcoe

Mihalcoe said she has grown up in the area and has deep family roots in the county, and her “passion for the area” is why she decided to apply for the position. Also, she and her family currently run six businesses in the county. “I felt it was time to step up,” she told the Board.

While she is affiliated with the Republican Party, Mihalcoe said, “I don’t think that would change in any way” her decisions as a member of the Board.

She would offer the Board a “fresh perspective” and called herself a problem-solver. She said the Board was like a family, in that each member can have a different opinion but could still work together for the common good.

As for dealing with budget issues, Mihalcoe said as a business owner she cannot afford higher taxes, and taxes are an important issue to others in the community, too. She suggested more belt-tightening. “Every budget has waste,” she said. “You can cut back, scale back.” She would help the board look at items “with a different set of eyes.”

Handling the deciding vote on tough issues would likely fall to the newest Board member, and Mihalcoe said that if that fell to her she would use her research skills and examine issues closely. Then she would “consider what is best for the community.”

When asked what values or principles she would use to guide her decisions, Mihalcoe said she would consider things on a case-by-case basis.

She suggested making the permitting process easier as one way to make things easier for business owners in the county and to bring in more revenues.

Of the Board’s divisiveness at times, she said she would like to see Board members have “a little more respect for one another” than what the public sees.

Robert Hershberger

Service has been part of Hershberger’s life since he became an adult, through his military service and then through his 24 years at the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance. This position is an opportunity to serve in a different capacity, he explained to the Board when asked why he had applied.

He told the Board he had no affiliation with any political parties.

As for consensus building, Hershberger said he had worked with nearly 24 different presidents and Board directors over his 24 years with the Alliance, and this helped him learn about consensus.

“I feel I am a good listener,” he said, and he does not have “knee-jerk reactions” when faced with tough issues. His strength is bringing people together, Hershberger said.

He agreed that the budget is the number one issue facing the county, with education funding being the biggest hurdle.

Sitting down to discuss the budget with the school system and the city and examining all the school programs together is key, Hershberger said. It may be time to eliminate “sacred cows” in the school budget and make difficult decisions.

He suggested asking the opinion of teachers, and he also said he would be open-minded and look at any idea on the table to address the budget issue.

Hershberger was on the Business Climate Task Force a few years ago that offered up some suggestions on making the county more business-friendly, and he said many of those suggestions would still be useful today. Expediting the permitting application process was a good move, he said, and he also supports the tourism zone idea currently under discussion.

The Board asked Hershberger if he would change any past decisions the Board has made, and he said he felt the vote on staggered terms could be looked at again, as it could take away continuity for local organizations should an entire board be voted out of office.

Supervisor Jim Kennedy noted that if all five members were voted off, this would be the will of the citizens. He asked Hershberger if continuity for organizations trumped the citizens’ will – Hershberger responded no, it didn’t.

Michael Brown

Brown served on the Board from 2002 through 2005. He said he decided to apply for the Jamestown Seat because “2012 is going to be a difficult year,” and he thought he “might well be of use” because he understands how the county is run, knows the department managers and can hit the ground running.

Aside from his Board experience, Brown said his experience in financial management for the military would also be useful in the postion.

He said he would “advocate for consensus and conciliation” on the Board in contentious matters, and work to find a middle ground among disagreeing supervisors.

Kennedy noted that in 2005 Brown, who was a Republican while on the Board and is currently a member of the Colonial Area Republican Men’s Association, sent a letter that “somewhat” advocated for Democrat Jim Icenhour in that year’s election. Kennedy also noted that J4C member David Jarman had recently advocated for Brown. He asked Brown if he had an agenda, or would look to undo items the Board had approved.

Brown said he had known Jarman for years as they both worked on a volunteer tax preparation program. He said he had “no agenda whatsoever” and would not be interested in joining the Board again long-term – that he just wanted to help out until the special election.

Brown did not want to overturn any previous decisions, and did not plan to lead the charge on any new initiatives, but said he did have his own views on issues that affect the county.

Brown said the budget shortfall is a “dire situation” that he hopes will be addressed in the General Assembly. He said the first thing he would do on the Board is ask state representatives to ease the Virginia Retirement System repayment plan that is the biggest part of the school’s budget problem.

“You can’t make these [budget] cuts without cutting out a lot of people,” he said.

While raising real estate taxes is “technically feasible,” Brown said raising the rates would most hurt those who could least afford it – less expensive homes are the ones that are selling, and the ones that are keeping their value. Raising taxes would mean these are the home owners who would bear the burden of an increase, he pointed out.

“I would like to say I’d never vote to raise taxes in a normal scenario,” Brown said, but “this is not a normal scenario.”

Having the school system take the full brunt of the $7.5 million shortfall is too much to expect, he said, but he was critical of WJCC’s use of short-term federal money in their past budgets.

Wilford Kale

Kale told the Board that “my professional life has been geared towards public service,” and that his knowledge of the county government, which he covered as a reporter for decades before working for the state government, goes back 50 years.

Kale said that while he is comfortable being a tie-breaking vote on the Board, he hopes the board would generally come to consensus and that “differences would get minimized” before the situation got to the point that he would be the swing vote.

Kale is not affiliated with any political party, he said.

“It’s important to know when to be hard-nosed and when to softly go down the road,” said Kale, who served on the Planning Commission with two current supervisors, Kennedy and Chair Mary Jones.

The Board’s current problem, Kale said, is a “perception issue” with the public. A majority of citizens think the board members “don’t like each other” and “don’t work together,” he said – and “perceptions are worse than reality.” He said he felt this is a major issue that faces the Board.

Another problem is the budget, which Kale would tackle by “carefully examining reductions in spending,” eliminating projects and possibly consolidating or restructuring some departments.

The “county government is pretty darn efficient” already, though, he noted, so when trimming the budget it will be important to make sure the end result is worth the savings obtained.

Kale had harsh criticisms of WJCC’s financial management over the last several years. The school system “had a direct route to extra funding” every year from the county, which didn’t cut school money over the course of tough years. WJCC treated this funding “like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

The school system has “not done a good job of financially managing almost anything,” Kale said, from the James Blair reuse to the air conditioner issue in the building to trouble figuring out the right size when planning one of the new school cafeterias.

The Board “needs to sit down with the [WJCC] administration and talk to them about what the realities are.”

Sasha Digges

Digges said he applied for the position because “I wanted to do something for the county.” His background in building and development would be a help in the position, he said.

He moved to the area after years with other companies and decided to build low-income housing in the county. Digges said he is a fiscal conservative, but does not have a party affiliation.

Digges said he would do his best when making county decisions, and that he would follow his principles.

When asked about the school funding issue, Digges said “we pay the head of the school $250,000,” and the Board should “hold him accountable… ‘Why did you leave a gap?’ I would ask him. Because you miscalculated? Why didn’t you foresee this?”

When asked how he would help the Board work better together, Digges said, “I’m open, and I work with anyone… my arrow goes straight to the problem.” The Board’s relationship is like a marriage, he said, in that everyone needs to work together.

When asked how he would make the county more efficient, Digges said “we should utilize what we have.” He gave an example of the Jamestown Marina, which he said should be dredged and fixed up. The county would “boost property values, and get a good return on your investment.” He also said the county could have used the old Chickahominy River Bridge as a fishing pier to bring in extra revenue.