* Editor’s Note: In a previous version of this posting “Third Amendment” was erroneously printed in the place of “First Amendment.” This occurred in the final sentence of Mr. Hodge’s answer to the reporter’s third question. Powhatan Today regrets the error.

Barry Hodge

Why did you decide to run for the Board of Supervisors this year? Have you run for county office before? I ran in 2007 for the 3rd district Board of Supervisor’s seat, and that was a very close race. Over the last four years I’ve become very concerned where our nation was headed – both in Washington, D.C. and in the way the county government has continued to grow over the last four years, when families and business were facing the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression.  I became very concerned because I have four children, I run my own business here in the county, my father and mother-in-law live here in the county, and the county was basically growing government in a time when that just seemed contrary to common sense.

Can you speak a bit the skills, experience, and education you think make you a strong candidate for this position? Yes. I have owned my own business for 14 years now, 11 of those years my business has been here in Powhatan. I have managed that business all by myself and run its budget to support my family. And I have also, during the years that I have practiced law, have practiced in the constitutional rights area, including property rights. People on the campaign trail have asked me “What does the Board of Supervisors do?” And one of the things it does is it directly affects, or can directly affect, your property rights. And first and foremost of those property rights is the way you spend, or decide to spend, your own money, your tax dollars. I have been involved in protecting property rights for a long time, and will continue to do so. So my background both as a business owner and a constitutional lawyer provides a good foundation to make the county government responsive, not only to the property rights of the citizens of Powhatan, but also to the fact that every business that I’m aware of in the last four years has not expanded. If anything, businesses are just trying to survive right now. We don’t need to be growing the county government when the economy is in such turbulent shape.

What are some of the issues you see facing either your district specifically or the county as a whole? I think there are three issues. The first issue is huge and that’s fiscal responsibility. I know that some have been so concerned about it, that they believe we’re at a point where we need to rein in spending. I don’t think we need be growing county government. In fact, over the last four years the county government has added about $5 million worth of new spending. That’s exactly what Washington D.C’s been doing.
To me that makes no common sense at all – in fact, it makes no sense at all. We need to bring common sense conservative principles back to bear on those issues.
One of the other issues is the fact that the citizens believe that the treatment of the School Board in the last four years has not been fair. It hasn’t been just. And I would like to see professionalism come back into the equation between the two boards. They may not always agree, but at least you ought to be able to professionally treat another group of professionals who are trying to do their job.
Citizens have also been concerned about the issue of an open government. Voters have told me they just don’t attend meetings anymore, because they don’t believe they’re listened to. They don’t believe that their voice is really heard in the county government.
I think we need to return to that open government philosophy that’s right there in the First Amendment, that you have a right to come and petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Is there anything specific you’d like to accomplish or that you’d like the board to accomplish in a four-year term on the board?
First and foremost I would like to see the budget process reformed. I would also like to see that we would exercise the fiscal restraint that is appropriate to the circumstances we find both the county in, and the state and nation in. This is not a time to be adding staff, or new departments.
This is a time to take stock of what our core needs are and to focus on those core needs. And to spend wisely the tax dollars that citizens send in to the county twice a year when they send in those real estate taxes. I am not for new taxes as some candidates have suggested. I am certainly for fiscal restraint. I think we can do better in Powhatan than Washington, D.C. is doing. I think we can even do better in Powhatan than Richmond is doing. And I think the change that we need to see in the country can start right here in Powhatan.

Frank Flannagan

Why did you decide to run for the Board of Supervisors this year? Have you run for county office before? I’ve never run for public office in the past. I was appointed by George Allen in 1994 to serve on the Board of Military Affairs when he was governor. I’ve always been involved in something in the county over the years, whether it’s the Fire Department . . . I also serve on the Board of Parks and Recreation. I serve as the Chairperson on that Commission as we speak. With my experience working with Henrico County for a number of years [as Maintenance Supervisor of the county golf course] I’ve got some experience. There are some things I want to bring to the county – to make Powhatan a little bit better, and to help it grow in a compatible way.

Can you speak a bit the skills, experience, and education you think make you a strong candidate for this position? My background is turf grass management. And as I said for many years I’ve worked with budgets. I’m responsible for big budgets of Belmont Golf Course. I have a number of people who work under me; I feel like that experience and also working with a micros budget that I can bring something to the county for Powhatan.

What are some of the issues you see facing either your district specifically or the county as a whole? I think there are a couple of things . . . we’ve got tight budgets right now. We’re going to have to watch our spending; we’re going to have to be very, very careful in what we spend on. People cannot afford a tax increase at this point in time. We’ve also got to continue to have quality education. We’ve got to support our teachers. We’ve also got to have some light, compatible growth for the county. The county has invested a tremendous amount of dollars in our 60 corridor in the lower end of the county for water and sewer, and we need to have something that will help offset our county taxes. Hopefully, that will improve our tax base for the future.

Is there anything specific you’d like to accomplish or that you’d like the board to accomplish in a four-year term on the board? I’ve got a couple of things that I’d like for us to do. I really feel like we need to have better communications between our School Board and our Board of Supervisors. I feel like we can work together. I feel like we can do better in that area right there. The county has started on some things in the last several years here by having a procurement officer, which I greatly support. I think that we can improve in that area a little bit, to have some competitive bids for our goods and services.
We need to continue improving our fire and emergency service system, because as more people come into the county there are more demands on public safety.
When you go by our Parks and Recreation facilities and you see 1,000 to 1,500 kids every weekend playing on the various ball fields, they’re going to need some additional things in the future. Hopefully, we can bring those around as long our tax base is in good shape.