At-Large Chair Could Change Stafford Board Makeup

Stafford, Va. — An ongoing effort to explore the addition of an At-large Chairman of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors took another turn, but not before lengthy debate on the issue.

The Board on Tuesday voted to create a panel that would study the feasibility of creating such a position – a Chairman that would be elected by voters and would answer to all of Stafford’s 130,000 residents. Sitting members of the Board currently appoint the Chairman who does not serve At-large.

Stafford must first petition Virginia’s General Assembly for permission for an At-large seat. Similar seats exist on Boards to the north, in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William.

Each Stafford Supervisor will appoint one person to the panel, which could also report back on potential costs to create an At-large seat and what effect it would have on the current makeup of the seven-member Board, each of its members answering to residents who live in their respective magisterial districts.

The commission was the brainchild of George Washington District Supervisor Bob Thomas, but Aquia Supervisor Paul Milde had hoped for a clear vote Tuesday night to that would’ve moved the process forward to Richmond.

“Bob, I know that you have not necessarily enthusiastic about this item since we talked about it…I would rather have this thing killed right now than us to have to go through a bunch of work…I would like to save us all the pain to discuss this for several more months,” said Milde.

The idea of At-large Supervisor seat has remained relatively unpopular when discussed in recent weeks among Board members. Milde regularly points to a petition circulated during previous election, its signers urging the Stafford’s Board put the creation of an At-large seat in the hands of voters.

“I propose the citizens of Stafford already have seven contacts on the Board. I trust that you work together and I assume the best people to work with the [Chairman of County Supervisors] is the people who selected that chair,” said former Stafford County Board of Supervisors Chair Linda Musselman. “Please don’t waste your time and energy at this time on this issue; I don’t think the residents of Stafford are looking for a king or queen.”

The majority of Supervisors are anxious to hear a report from the panel before moving forward.

“If we don’t know the answers to all these questions and everything is so open, then we have no business voting right now on sending to the General Assembly asking them to give us the ability to put in on a referendum for the voter to vote on and say ‘we don’t really know what you’re voting on or what this is going to do [to the county] but hey, have at it,’” said Board Chairman Susan Stimpson.

More discussion on the creation of the panel is expected at the next Stafford Board meeting in two weeks.