Sound Off: Does Chesterfield Need Additional BOS Seats? Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Posted by Conaway B. Haskins III in Uncategorized.trackback
With the county’s population in the 300,000 range, Chesterfield’s 5 magisterial districts may soon be on par with House of Delegates districts in terms of size. As Virginia’s 4th-largest jurisdiction, discussions about enlarging the board of supervisors to 7 seats has ensued in corners of the community, and some have talked of having an at-large BOS chairmanship. This is not unprecedented as Chesterfield’s counterparts among Virginia’s largest municipalities have moved in this direction. However, there are legal concerns over civil rights and representation that are often mentioned in the debates.
As it stands, Fairfax has a 10-member BOS with an elected chairman, Virginia Beach has an 11-member City Council with an elected mayor and 3 at-large seats, Prince William has an 8-member BOS with an elected chairman, and Loudoun has a 9-member BOS with one at-large seat. Our northern neighbor, Henrico, maintains 5 district seats like Chesterfield.
Over a year ago, RGAC board member Bob Herndon asked, “Would you like to elect the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors? Do you see the benefits of a Chairman with a four year term v. one year? Do you want the leader of your County government directly accountable to all the voters of Chesterfield County?”
It would be interesting to know what citizens and observers of the county think of this issue. Chime in.
We need 7 or 9 members. There was one zoning case decided 2-1.
The smaller the Board, the easier to corrupt.
The time is right to expand the board. Those who agree should try and make this an issue in the next round of elections. If the winning candidates are on record as being supportive of this, it will be much harder for them to not carry through for the post-2010 redistricting. I think that a directly-elected chairman is also a good idea, but it may not be wise to try and implement the two changes at the same time. The county can switch to an elected chair at any time because no redistricting would be needed; however, it’s important that expansion of the board be accomplished by the time of the next redistricting.
Of course Chesterfield should have seven supervisors. This can be done with a minimum of effort as our charter already provides for this. It seems the only ones who oppose the idea are the very ones who would have their power reduced, even though they would have fewer people with situations to deal with.
Hmmmm… on one hand we have better constituent service and on the other we have reduced influence of any particular Supervisor. It seems like a no-brainer to me, but there are those who would want to ’study the impact’ or just plain oppose it. That just doesn’t make sense.
As far as an at-large chairman, it’s a good idea that would require much more effort to implement. This is not to say we shouldn’t move toward that goal, but that we should probably take that as a step two in the process of returning control of the county to the taxpayers/voters.
Both plans are worthy of checking with any candidate who presents himself or herself for the office of Supervisor this fall. Sure there will be some problems with the implementation. Most any change of this sort shows some glitches along the way, but in the long run, the changes would be well worth the effort in community representation and Supervisor responsiveness.
I proposed seven districts in 1991, after the census. I even was able to construct a “minority” district, even though Lane Ramsey keeps saying that’s not possible. I proposed the idea again after the 2000 census. Both times it was shot down by the Board. At the 2001 Mt. Piscah public meeting, concerning redistricting, I questioned”Why was 23% of the minority population of Dale District being moved to the Midlothian District. The area covered was south of route 60 beyond 360. It appeared to be a way of keeping Dale from becoming a “minority” district. For asking the question I was accused by Kelly Miller of being a “Racist”. If and when we redistrict again, It must be done by a Citizens committee, based on census data. Not by the Board to define political bases.
Are there any blogs to replace southofthejames?