Fredericksburg voters largely opted for stability Tuesday, returning familiar faces to lead the city’s law enforcement, fiscal, and education offices — while elevating a current school board member to the City Council and welcoming one new face to the dais.
Despite recent controversies surrounding school board spending and transparency, incumbents and well-known local figures prevailed across the ballot, signaling voters’ preference for continuity over change.
“We are proud of this achievement and grateful to everyone who has played a part over the past few years in getting us to this point,” Jayne Johnson, Executive Director of Greater Fredericksburg Habitat for Humanity, said. “We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to those who worked with us during this process: the City of Fredericksburg, Welford Engineering, Legacy Engineering, Frank Mills Surveyor, the GFHFH Board of Directors, the Mayfield Community leaders and neighbors, and the volunteers and donors who continued to support us through it all.”
The City of Fredericksburg’s Community Planning and Building Department has approved the Greater Fredericksburg Habitat for Humanity site plan for six new affordable homes on Davies Street. Each home will be purchased by a partner family who completes the organization’s homeownership program. Habitat will announce details about the start of construction and the homebuyer selection process at a later date.
The University of Mary Washington and Mary Washington Healthcare are joining forces to create what could become the Fredericksburg region’s first medical school — a plan leaders say would directly confront the area’s growing shortage of physicians and healthcare workers.
University President Dr. Troy Paino and Dr. Christopher Newman, Chief Executive Officer of Mary Washington Healthcare, presented their proposal to the Fredericksburg City Council on Tuesday, describing an ambitious vision for a community-based medical school that would train doctors to stay and practice in Virginia.
In an October 6 opinion column published in The FXBG Advance, Gerlach said no city council candidate “has received donations from any data center company,” calling the suggestion “a deliberate attempt to confuse and deceive voters.” His remarks come amid heightened tensions in the city’s election season, with several candidates facing accusations of taking “data center money” following the appearance of anonymous campaign signs last month.
As Potomac Local News reported on September 19, state campaign finance records confirm that Matt Rowe (Ward 1), Joy Crump (Ward 2), and Susanna Finn (Ward 3) each received donations from Charlie Payne, a Richmond-based attorney with the law firm Hirschler who represents developers involved in the Celebrate Virginia South project, and data center development projects in surrounding jurisdictions. Payne is not a developer himself, and the contributions came from him personally — not from a data center company or political action committee.
