The highlight of the BOCS meeting tomorrow will be the announcement of the new county executive officer. All lips are sealed as to who will lead the county. According to the Manassas News and Messenger:
Craig Gerhart left the position months ago for a contract job with Amtrak. Assistant county executive Susan Roltsch has since filled the shoes. Following an extensive and nationwide search, and interview of a select few at Old Hickory Golf Course a few weeks ago, supervisors have found a permanent replacement.
The 3 p.m. announcement interrupts the supervisors’ regular board meeting, which includes discussion of the county’s 2010 legislative priorities and two Fire and Rescue Dept. issues – the quarterly report from the Fire and Rescue Association and whether to move to the next stage of a policy that would charge users for medical emergency transport.
Craig Gerhart announced his resignation last spring, so the county has taken its good sweet time locating a replacement. I heard a rumor that Corey himself had applied for the job but I didn’t believe it. He did say there was no heir apparent, if that gives us any clues.
On a serious note, will the new CXO be someone from inside or will the new person be an outsider? Will the person come in and clean house or will things be status quo? Will the new CXO walk softly, carry a big stick for a while, get the lay of the land and then make changes or will there be Operation Clean Sweep down at Complex 1? Will trumpets blare as Corey Stewart makes his announcement? Why will the announcement be made at 3 pm? Such ceremony. Are we to expect a coronation to follow? (Where is MoM when we need him!)
The good news is, this decision took less time than deciding the outcome of Silver Lake.
Update: Corey Stewart also plans to present a resoltuion to address school over-crowding in the Linton Hall area where all schools are over capacity. Details are from the Manassas News and Messenger:
LINTON HALL, Va.—Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart plans to present a resolution today aimed at addressing school overcrowding in the Linton Hall area.
In an e-mail sent to Bristow residents, Stewart said he plans to ask the board today to adopt a new policy requiring three news schools be opened and sites acquired for two more before “a single new occupancy permit is issued for a house in a new rezoning” in the Linton Hall area.
“I have received many e-mails, phone calls and visits from you concerning schools in your neighborhood,“ Stewart said in the e-mail addressed to Bristow residents. “You have told me that school overcrowding, particularly in elementary schools, is a top priority… You would like to have new school sites located in the Linton Hall area, not several miles away in a different neighborhood.“
His resolution specifically calls for two new elementary schools and a new high school in the Linton Hall area to be built and opened, and sites for a third new elementary school and a new middle school in the same area be acquired before new homes are built.
Stewart said the proposed new policy “would require that school overcrowding be addressed” before any new houses come to the Linton Hall area and “would also create a strong incentive for new school sites to be located in the Linton Hall Road area.“
Is this resolution crossing over into School Board territory? While most of us agree that there should be schools for all new houses, the unholy alliance between local jurisdictions and their school boards is somewhat difficult to understand. Basically each school board is independent but it have no means to raise revenue. All of its money must come from the jurisdiction.
Some houses fair a lot better than others. Serendipity, the house in the movie Nights in Rodanthe, was being reclaimed by the sea. A storm in October 2008 just about finished it off. Dare County served notice that the house was a public nuisance and had to be moved or torn down. The Pennsylvania couple who owned it decided to level it.
