Michael Hipple Sr. will run for election to the Powhatan seat on the James City County Board of Supervisors in the November election.
“I’ve been living and working in James City County since I was 13 years old, and I am committed to ensuring our community retains its ‘hometown’ character,” Hipple said in a news release.
Hipple (R) has volunteered with the James City Bruton Volunteer Fire Department for 28 years and has served as its president for 10 years. He is a member of the James City Ruritan Club and serves as President-elect of the Toano Kiwanis. Hipple is a member of the Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance and the New Kent Chamber of Commerce.
He attended Lafayette High School. Hipple and his wife M. Kristen Hipple have seven children, all of whom live in the county. He has adult children who work in the county and younger children in the Williamsburg-James City County School System.
“I know first-hand how important it is that our schools have the resources they need, and that the funds they receive are directed toward educational achievement,” he said in a release.
The family attends Cross Walk Community Church.
“I have a lifetime commitment to James City County and I will bring that perspective and experience to the Board,” he said in a release.
Hipple is president of Michael J. Hipple Builder Inc., a general contractor business specializing in renovation, remodeling and building individual homes, and he has operated the business for 25 years. As such, he said he knows “the importance of sound fiscal management and of good planning.”
Hipple started his business in 1988 with $215 and said he knows “what it’s like to have big dreams without a lot of money.” He wants to be sure the county is “friendly to local businesses, especially to small businesses just starting out.”
“Our local government needs that same long-term perspective to ensure that our children not only get the advantage of growing up here, but can afford to stay here and raise families of their own,” Hipple said in a release.
Hipple said he plans to go door-to-door in the Powhatan District to meet his neighbors and potential voters.
After redistricting left the Powhatan seat vacant, judges from the 9th Judicial Circuit Court of Virginia appointed Andy Bradshaw as supervisor of the district. Bradshaw, who previously served six years as a supervisor for the county, has said he would not run for the seat this November.
