Two James City County Board of Supervisors hopefuls for the Powhatan seat faced off in a forum Wednesday evening, responding to questions focused on growth, a proposed power line, political action committees and transparency.
Republican Michael Hipple and Democrat Robert Mandala sat on stage in the nearly full theater at the Williamsburg Regional Library at a forum hosted by The League of Women Voters of the Williamsburg Area. Michael Fox, assistant to the president of the College of William & Mary, served as moderator.
Hipple is operating his campaign on the idea James City County needs to retain its hometown character while keeping taxes low, limiting government spending and avoiding debt; he believes the county should look at growing small businesses. Mandala wants to remove politics and partisanship from local government so the board can represent its citizens; he also does not support raising taxes.
To kick off the forum, Fox introduced the two candidates and then posed six questions to each.
Focusing on growth for the first question, Hipple, who said he lives on rural land, believes it is important to protect rural lands in the county. He wants to focus on addressing and guiding growth with citizen input while also protecting rural lands and the county’s current character.
“The board doesn’t run the county, the citizens do,” Hipple said.
Mandala said growth is inevitable and will happen regardless of whether it’s wanted. He believes planning —including looking at traffic and transportation — needs to occur far in advance to know what the area will look like in the future.
“Without that growth, most of y’all wouldn’t be in here today,” Hipple said. He told the audience he has a 30- to 50-year plan regarding growth in the county and growth management is of the utmost importance, but did not provide specifics during the forum.
The candidates then addressed Dominion Virginia Power’s proposed overhead line from Surry to Skiffes Creek; Mandala said the proposed power line is a by-product of growth.
The two candidates agreed taxpayer money may not have been spent wisely in the power line case, but Mandala said it had to be done.
Switching tracks to politics, the candidates spoke to rancor on the current board, political labels, transcending partisanship and political action committees.
Mandala said he does not believe politics belong in local government; party labels don’t matter at this level.
“I don’t think it truly means anything at our level,” Mandala said.
Focusing on rancor, Mandala said it certainly exists on the board, which brought him to the issue of civility, which he recently pledged to uphold if elected to the board. Good discussion leads to better results and innovation, he said.
“There is far too much talking, and not enough listening,” Mandala said.
Hipple disagreed with Mandala that politics needed to be left out of local politics, arguing people can align with political parties that best represent their beliefs but need to be able to transcend the lines to work together for the county.
“I’m ashamed. I’ll tell you right now, I’m ashamed of the entire board and how they’re acting and what’s going on,” Hipple said. “… At the end of the day we’re adults, we can agree to disagree.”
Both candidates believe in taping closed sessions. Typically, the board has closed sessions to discuss legal or personnel issues.
The candidates were asked their opinions on PACs and whether they accept funds from PACs. Recently, a James City County resident formed a new PAC called James City Citizens for Good Government to support Mandala and Jim Icenhour, the Democratic incumbent for the Jamestown seat on the board.
Mandala answered first, saying PACs are a “necessary evil,” but he is not a fan of them. He said the PACs are not authorized by candidates and are not appropriate for all campaigns; if he were in the position to support legislation blocking PACs, he likely would.
“I think they do more harm than good,” Mandala said.
Hipple said he was disappointed a PAC was set up to support Mandala and Icenhour because he wants the citizens to decide what they want.
“We don’t need Washington D.C. in James City County,” Hipple said.
Transportation was at the forefront of citizen questions. The candidates support looking at different areas with traffic problems in the county. Hipple would invite citizens to bring forward the areas of concern, but thinks there are issues at various places along Route 60, Monticello Avenue and the Longhill Road corridor. Mandala agreed the Longhill corridor was of concern, as is Monticello Avenue.
Mandala said the proposed improvements to Interstate 64 sound nice but will create another bottleneck similar to what currently occurs near Jefferson Avenue.
As the Williamsburg-James City County School Board examines the need for another middle school by 2017, citizens wanted to know what the two candidates thought about the need for the school, county offices and starting school before Labor Day.
Hipple has seven children, all of whom attended WJCC schools. He believes the board needs to work closer with the school board to review plans for the school because nobody on the school board knows how to read plans. He is not sure the numbers that indicate the need for the new school are accurate; he said some of the numbers came from Colonial Heritage, which is a 55 and older community.
Mandala did not think James Blair could be retrofitted for a new school because it was built to accommodate about 650 students and the need is for about 900 students. He doubts the funds for a new administrative building were necessary to spend; he said a vacant retail space could be appropriate. Hipple agreed with repurposing vacant retail space or existing county-owned buildings for administrative offices.
Starting school after Labor Day was a split topic: Hipple supports keeping the start date after Labor Day, while Mandala said school could begin before Labor Day if it means it’s going to make a difference in curriculum and better educating students. Mandala said a conversation would be necessary to determine whether it would be the best option, considering the Historic Triangle is a tourist destination.
In closing, Mandala said he is committed, exhibited by his marriage of more than 30 years and the job with Bank of America he held for more than 40 years. He has learned about collaboration, partnership and consensus building. Pointing to his contributions, Mandala said his campaign is completely grassroots and he has not received any business contributions.
“Every aspect of my life revolves around James City County,” Hipple said.
Hipple has volunteered with the James City-Bruton Volunteer Fire Department for 28 years and founded Michael J. Hipple Builder in the county 25 years ago.
