James City County Board of Supervisors member Jim Icenhour, who won the Jamestown District seat in Tuesday’s election, wants to postpone his shift to the new seat and keep Supervisor Wilford Kale in that role for another month.
Icenhour asked County Attorney Leo Rogers for an opinion as to whether he could wait to take the Jamestown seat and allow Kale to continue in that role. This would keep the Board at five members for as long as possible, Icenhour said in an email to Rogers and the Board on Wednesday. Rogers responded, saying that Icenhour had to qualify by Dec. 6 for the Jamestown seat, and that until that time Kale could continue to serve.
“Given the pending vacancy on the Board, I believe it is in the best interests of our citizens that we begin the recruitment and evaluation of potential appointees to the Powhatan seat while we still have a five-member board in place,” Icenhour said.
“Delaying my assumption of the Jamestown seat until early December would allow Mr. Kale to continue as the Jamestown representative for both November meetings so he could participate in the process.” He noted, though, that any deliberations on an appointment would not occur until after Kale is gone and Icenhour is in the Jamestown seat.
Rogers highlighted to the Board Virginia Code section 24.2-228, which says an appointed Board member (such as Kale) “shall hold office only until the qualified voters fill the vacancy by special election… and the person so elected has qualified,” which means Kale will continue to serve until Icenhour qualifies for the seat.
To qualify, several criteria need to be met, including Icehour resigning his position as Powhatan representative and taking the oath of office.
Rogers also said in his response to Icenhour that the Board could start the recruitment process to fill Icenhour’s Powhatan seat that he will soon need to vacate. “I don’t see any problem with the Board establishing an application process in November in anticipation of the 30-day period for selecting a new member,” Rogers wrote. He said the Board could start the process, but could not select a new member until Icenhour vacates the Powhatan seat.
In January last year, the Board had to temporarily fill the vacant Jamestown seat that was left empty when Supervisor John McGlennon won an election for the Roberts district, which he ended up in after redistricting.
The Board had two Republicans and two Democrats at the time who could not agree on a candidate after interviewing several citizens; the decision was left up to a panel of three local judges who appointed Kale in March.
Icenhour said he wants to avoid the Board going such a long time without a fifth member and wants to get started on figuring out the application process for a new member. “This will allow us to operate as a fully manned Board for a longer period,” he said in an interview Thursday.
“By December, I hope we’ll be ready to take action [on a new member]. This will give us December to try to agree on a candidate, and then pass it to the judges if we need to.”
