James City County Board of Supervisors candidates for the Jamestown seat sat down Wednesday evening for a forum in advance of the Nov. 5 election, responding to questions about development, public comment during board meetings, taxes and party affiliations.
Democratic incumbent Jim Icenhour sat down with Republican challenger Kevin Onizuk in the Williamsburg Regional Library’s theater 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.
Icenhour’s campaign platform has three main focuses: controlling residential growth, keeping taxes low and diversifying the economy through business growth. Onizuk’s campaign is focused on retaining James City County’s current character and beauty but with a restored vision for growth and overall enhancement.
To kick off the forum, Fox introduced the two candidates and then posed six questions to each.
For the first question, Fox asked Icenhour and Onizuk if they supported reviewing areas previously planned for development during the comprehensive plan review — which will happen next year — and expanding the primary service area, which is the portions of the county that currently or will likely in the near future receive water and sewer services. PSAs are designated as a means of controlling growth.
Onizuk answered first, saying he supported the review. He said he’s heard from citizens that growth is a primary concern, so he believes in adhering to PSA. He believes in managing growth to maintain the county’s charm and personality. The comprehensive plan can bring comfort to citizens, Onizuk said, because it lets citizens know what to expect as far as growth in the county’s future.
Icenhour said the comprehensive plan is a citizen-based document that tells the board what citizens want their county to look like. He agrees with Onizuk that the PSA should be maintained and should only be changed for broadly supported projects.
If county revenue becomes insufficient, the candidates were asked if they would support real estate tax increases.
Prior to raising taxes, Icenhour supports cutting unnecessary services, such as parks and recreation. Necessary services, including fire, police and schools, would have to be funded. Icenhour said alternative funding sources would be sought only when necessary.
Onizuk agreed raising taxes would be a last resort. He said belt-tightening is important, but is something he has not seen in the last two years.
“When the Republicans took over in 2008, there [was] belt-tightening,” Onizuk said, adding he has not seen that in the last two years. “Take a look at the county office buildings, we have built an elaborate office building. … When we got our county administrator from Miami, I didn’t realize his new office building was going to be like something out of ‘CSI: Miami.’”
Icenhour said the county has taken an old building and rehabilitated it, which was only done “when the termites quit holding hands.” Both actual expenditures and the number of county staff members have decreased in recent years, he said.
As Williamsburg-James City County Schools are looking at adding a fourth middle school in 2017, the candidates were asked if they support building another middle school.
Onizuk said the county has outgrown the existing schools, so there is a need for one, but the county doesn’t need a “Cadillac. We can have a very functioning Toyota.” He believes the money should be kept in education and public-private partnerships should be explored to curtail costs. Looking outside of the James Blair site may be necessary, he said.
Icenhour said the public will be involved in the budgeting process, but there is a tight timeline.
“We do need to have a plan that meets the instructional requirements and needs of the 21st century,” Icenhour said. “I would like to put more of our money into the hindquarters as opposed to the headquarters. … We need that money put into the classrooms where it affects the students and I think we ought to be looking to conserve and can be very judicious with our money when we are talking about the administrative levels.”
The candidates switched gears to traffic, something that comes along with area growth.
Icenhour supports the recent transportation bill that passed the General Assembly and believes the Interstate 64 widening is necessary for business and tourism. Locally, his top priority is the Longhill Road corridor, but is also concerned with traffic light sequencing on Monticello Avenue and Route 199.
Onizuk agreed transportation is important for business and tourism; he is concerned with the traffic pattern change on Monticello Avenue related to retail growth.
Retail growth along Monticello Avenue is one of the top concerns Onizuk hears from citizens. Businesses move from one area to another, but not a lot of new businesses are coming, he said. Onizuk said Icenhour supported Settler’s Market and citizens are concerned with the clear-cutting for developement of the Walmart Neighborhood Market.
Icenhour said he voted against Settler’s Market, but supported it after it was downsized. Walmart was a separate project that never went before the board for consideration.
With civility and transparency at the forefront of many county discussions, the candidates were asked if party line votes and disagreement were common on the board and how they would transcend the party labels.
“There is a lot of discord, there is a lot of disagreement,” Onizuk said about the board meetings. He said he does not need a piece of paper to tell him returning a call or email is courteous. “Working together and being civil is leadership by example.”
Onizuk said he would not think of himself as a Republican or Democrat if voted to the board, pointing out the current “majority” votes in harmony while the “minority” does not always vote in harmony. Currently, two elected Democrats, two elected Republicans and one appointed Independent are serving on the board.
“If it were as simple as one person deciding we were going to have civility, we would have had this a long time ago … it’s more than a one-way street, it’s a multi-way street,” Icenhour said.
Icenhour said it’s important to listen to an argument, but board members don’t necessarily have to be swayed by them. He said he has voted opposite of Supervisors John McGlennon (Roberts) and Andy Bradshaw (Powhatan) as well as former appointed supervisor Wilford Kale, who represented the Jamestown District prior to Icenhour’s election in November last year.
“It’s only the highlights that come out,” Icenhour said.
Onizuk disagreed with Icenhour’s statement that one person can’t make a difference. He said he has seen a decline in civility that occurred while Icenhour was a supervisor.
“One person can make a difference, two people can make a bigger difference,” Onizuk said.
Regarding party labels, Onizuk said the ballots don’t identify the candidates as Democrats or Republicans but both are backed by a party. He said he identifies with Republicans because he is a fiscal conservative.
“If that makes me a Republican, then I am proud to be a Republican. But I am here not as a Republican, not as a Democrat, but as a citizen of James City County,” Onizuk said.
Icenhour said he would like to see the candidates in James City County run as mutual independents rather than as Democrats or Republicans.
“I used to be a Republican many years ago,” Icenhour said, explaining the Democratic party in the county is more aligned with his current ideals.
A citizen question dealt with public comment periods during the board meetings and whether those should be limited.
“Unlike my opponent, I do not feel like there should be restrictions on citizens addressing the board,” Onizuk said. He does not support pushing online comments for thousands of dollars, and wants to hear from citizens and learn from them.
Onizuk said he’s concerned when he hears overwhelming citizen outcry on an issue at a board meeting and the board votes opposite those citizens. He pointed to the Peninsula Pentecostals, which recently tried to gain approval to build a new church on a piece of industrial land in the county.
“Unlike my opponent, I also don’t believe we should restrict people’s opportunities to speak on the board,” Icenhour said.
Icenhour said there’s no reason or need to change the current public comment period. The idea of using an online comment option is to gain input from people who cannot attend board meetings.
“You represent all the people in this community, not just the ones who show up at the meetings, not just the ones who speak the loudest, so you have to take everybody into consideration,” Icenhour said.
The candidates’ last question dealt with taking minutes on closed sessions.
Icenhour said he has problems with taking closed session minutes for several reasons, emphasizing the difficulty in holding a frank discussion on personnel issues in open session.
“We could do it, but the problem is it probably would make the value of some of those closed sessions much less useful to the board in the long run,” Icenhour said.
Onizuk, on the other hand, supports minutes and possibly taping closed sessions because discussions are happening in closed sessions that shouldn’t be.
“I believe in transparency within our board of supervisors at every level,” Onizuk said.
In closing, Icenhour said one thing he has noticed over the past eight years is citizens have common goals and want to preserve the unique, rural areas of the county, which transcends party lines. A blueprint for the future is necessary: growth needs to be controlled and should pay for itself, taxes need to remain low and the economy needs to be diversified. The county’s debt, per capita spending and manpower are down; all services for this fiscal year were funded with no tax increases.
Onizuk said when things stay the same, they don’t get better; civility can’t return to government if the same people are reelected. If management is being “rewarded with golden parachutes,” spending can’t stay down. He said the Republican majority reduced debt and Icenhour “has been busy with our county credit card over the last two years.” Preserving the county’s natural beauty, keeping county spending under control and ensuring vibrant local economy would be his focuses.
