June 2nd Board Report
I’m slowly catching up and these long meetings don’t help
There’s more to this article. BUT….
Yeah, I’m not going to bill you for this one. But upcoming reports will be paywalled at some point. So enjoy it while you can.
It’s been awhile since I’ve covered a meeting. For those that don’t know, I took a step away to take care of some family stuff. Namely a graduation, a new house, a new job, and a very demanding garden.
But I’m back. Well, I guess technically I never went anywhere. But I’m back to reporting the news.
And don’t worry, I’m still working my way through the older meetings that you haven’t gotten a report on. Those will just take some time to get to but I WILL get to them.
Prayer and Pledge
I took a break and some things change and some remain the same. What changed? Well, the venue for the meetings has changed because the Supervisors have yet to fully fund what county departments NEED and therefore the board room has a bad HVAC system. What else changed? Davis got a haircut. And a shave?
First Public Comment
What remained the same? Davis’ pops had yet another sermon for us.
The rest of public comment was…. interesting. We start with opposition to a data center on the Machodoc Creek. Which, I agree, is concerning, especially when you look at how close it is to the Cleydael neighborhood. However, it passed because the masses did NOT come out and speak against it when it was up for a vote. What’s the key takeaway here? You need to share this newsletter so other can stay on top of local news and can speak up against, or for, things like the Dahlgren Data Center.
By the third public comment, things really took a turn for the worst. It went from a one-way public comment as is the norm, especially for boards following Roberts Rules, to a bit of a public forum where comments, questions, and combative words were tossed around.
Pastor Shaw was back with, you guessed it, a new hat. Trash. Guess there is a proposed ordinance regarding trash. Maybe I should have read the agenda before watching the meeting.
Rose Payne spoke about the lack of communication from the Board on everything from the location of the meeting to data centers. Davis was dismissive as normal and instead of taking a moment to politely educate the public, he chastised everyone for not doing it.
And then called county staff to come forward and explain a bit of how things work with notifications and projects and alerts and what is available online.
Public comment resumed for about two seconds before Davis started answering questions, giving information, and totally not following Roberts Rules. Which, some could argue, are more like guidelines than rules. But even as guidelines, it’s pretty normal to see public comment as a one-way conversation. Actually, it’s pretty normal for the whole damn meeting to be a one-way conversation.
Public Comment proceeded to devolve into a disaster.
It was so bad, Binder was tapping her foot faster than a machine gun. I guess Davis just likes to talk. Or hear himself talk. Which we all know makes it hard to listen to what the voters have to say.
Board Reports
Stroud said he attended KGHS graduation. He also wanted to update the frequency of land application to once every five years instead of once every year.
Rowbotham had nothing to report.
Binder wanted to make sure the MOU was renewed with the Ralph Bunche Alumni Association. She also encouraged everyone to go back and watch older meetings to see what happened.
Metts was nice enough to make sure Sullins could hear and be heard (since he was participating virtually).
Consent Agenda
Approved.
Service Authority Consent Agenda
Approved.
Action Items
Money was moved for training and safety but otherwise the budget remained the same. It was approved.
Inboden had their contract renewed. While I appreciate their work, I’d love to see the Service Authority hire local workers and pay them enough to keep them here. They have a contract with Colonial Beach too and I’m not sure it’s the best long term solution to the problem. I think local employees are the best solution. People that have a vested interest, a sense of ownership.
Presentations
There was a change order for the water and sewer upgrades being made. It was approved. But not before Sullins asked questions that we couldn’t hear.
General Manager’s Report
In more news that doesn’t change, leaks were found and repaired.
Service Authority Public Comment
A public speaker asked for clarity on the Dahlgren West data center water usage. Hamilton clarified that it is allowed to use treated waste water, sometimes called purple pipe water. Their rezoning agreement also bars them from using any county water.
The next speaker said the data center would have redundancy and if they could use well water as backup. Our county attorney said, a little too emphatically, that they could not use well water to cool their facility.
Closed Session
The Service Authority held a closed session for about 30 minutes before returning to open session.
Adjourn
The Service Authority adjourned.
Public Hearing
KGMS turn lane scored a public hearing. While there were some technical issues pulling up the presentation, Binder and Rowbotham had a private consultation in the background. For the turnlane project, it’s really the addition of a sidewalk that appeals to most people. The only thing I’d like to see added is even more flashy lights for the school zone speed limit. Or maybe bigger lights.
Anyway, the initial presentation was short. So was public comment.
The board delayed action to give public more time to comment.
Budget Public Hearing
Smolnik gave his final presentation on the budget covering the journey that got us to where we are today. Long story short, our taxes are going down but only because the value of our property is going up. The scary part, besides everyone believing our tax rate is actually lower now, is that the unassigned fund balance went from $3.6 to $800k. Or maybe it was the slide that showed a steady decrease in taxes since 2019 yet an increase in pay for teachers and fire fighters and deputies and our spending budget has grown.
There was some talk of county employees getting a raise, but it being split between COLA and merit. I can see all sides to this argument but frankly, if the base rate of pay isn’t enough to attract people, your idea of merit pay isn’t going to keep great people here. And speaking of keeping people here, is now a good time to suggest once again that if we offered free childcare through the school system we could attract some top talent?
The public comment portion of the hearing was brief and filled with glowing reviews of the Supervisor’s hard work.
Mandatory Pay Raise
The state is requiring certain county employees to get a raise and the county is on the hook to pay the bill. It’s called an unfunded mandate and, sadly, it’s something pretty normal for us here in Virginia. The good news is that we’ll get at least some of it back.
Bylaws Discussion
Binder called the Board to task by saying she missed her chance to be Chair of the Board, because of the boys being boys, and that there needed to be a policy set in place to ensure every district got a chance to serve as Chair.
Excuse me while I applaud loudly from my seat as a woman puts some sexist men in their place.
Stroud, ugh, had to point out the flaw of Binder’s argument. Dude. Just shut up and allow a woman to be in charge. Sullins added his comments and I couldn’t hear a word of it. Probably a good thing. But then Davis had to say women suck and he lost $75,000 in sales because he wasn’t able to make phone sales. Okay, maybe he didn’t say women suck but that’s the vibe I got.
Stroud tried to make a motion to remove the rotation completely. Nobody took it up and Davis said he didn’t mind the rotation, he just didn’t want a rule to make him rotate. Stuart showed some experience as a public defender by continuing to explain to the board that they needed to define how to rotate the Chair position.
The clowns eventually figured out how they were amending the bylaws and made the change. But didn’t define how to rotate. At least Metts is up there doing his best to support women’s rights.
Tourism Funding
Oktoberfest applied for grant funding as did Valor Ranch. Not much discussion and no action.
Financial Policy
Discussing a financial policy was tabled so they could include the School Board in the discussion.
Chief Moody’s Report
Company 2’s new location next to Shiloh Baptist is making progress. But it’s slow. Site plan approval is expected this year with construction being completed by 2028.
During the update, the Supervisors agreed to extend the meeting.
After the new fire station update, Moody talked to the board about fuel needs and infrastructure. Which meant there’s a new fuel station for emergency vehicles (and county vehicles).
Bus Loops
Bus loops were not brought into the state inventory of roads like they should have been. I predict the board will eventually approve it when they decide to actually take action instead of rushing home to bed.
Trash Ordinance
The board asked Stuart to write a trash ordinance. So he copied the one from Westmoreland and called it done. I guess copying your work from your other job and getting paid for it a second time is okay. At least he didn’t use AI. Davis said he doesn’t want the county to be an HOA but then said he didn’t want to live next to someone collecting broken washing machines.
Binder asked how trash was defined and if it would include businesses. In short, it’s up to the county administrator to decide. And if the resident, or business, doesn’t agree, they can go to court. Stroud took the time to complain about people littering and dumping trash while Binder asked the big brain question of what do you do when somebody dumps trash on your property. Stuart said you would call the sheriff and they would prosecute the litterbug. Unless you didn’t know somebody dumped it on your land and then you’d just clean it yourself.
County Administrator’s Report
Smolnik talked about the Consent Agenda. He said a previous member asked for the additional detail to be included, I won’t guess who, and it turns out some personal information may have been published that should have been private. So Smolnik asked the board to let him reduce the detail given in the default report while still allowing the board, and the public, the ability to provide public info as needed. Binder also raised the pending issue of being ADA compliant which would make the reports even more time consuming to convert. It sounds like the board was okay with the change.
Smolnik said a future meeting would dive deeper into the abandonment of the VDOT right of way at the old KGMS.
Second Public Comment
An old farmer came up to talk about Fauquier county and how they preserve agricultural and forestry districts. He dropped some names of people that helped them up there and also said there was less paperwork involved in land use changes.
Adjourn
After nearly five hours, they adjourned with no closed session.
If you felt this was helpful information, please share with your friends, family, and neighbors.
Sources:
This news has been slowly accumulated from a variety of public news sources but primarily the public meetings held in King George County.
You can read a different perspective on the meeting here:
“‘This should’ve happened last year:’ King George residents protest already-approved data centers” by Taft Coghill Jr. https://www.fredericksburgfreepress.com/2026/06/03/this-shouldve-happened-last-year-king-george-residents-protest-already-approved-data-centers/