An Interview With Jonathon Weakley - Local Leaders #8

by Neil Richard

Introduction

The basic idea behind this interview series is to interview local leaders that live, work, or have an important impact on King George County. We have asked various citizens for recommendations on who they see as a local leader. Additionally, we feel that everyone has a story and it deserves to be told. So we want to know their story. As you can see with the questions below, we want to share their  story with the rest of the citizens in King George County. If you have somebody you would like to nominate for a future interview, please contact us.

Jonathan Weakley, General Manager of the King George County Service Authority.

Editor's Note:
As I told Mr. Weakley after our interview, I found quite a few similarities between our pasts. However, during the interview itself, I did my best to not let these similarities interfere with my questions or the conversation. I also told Mr. Weakley that one of the driving factors behind these interviews is to help citizens get to know important people in the community on a more personal and human level.

Basic Biographical Information

As far as my educational accomplishments, I was a 1997 graduate of Madison County High School. That is in Madison, Virginia. After graduation I went in and I'd say I had a first successful year at Germanna Community College then like some young adults decided that college may not be the perfect time and left to enter the workforce full time. I came back after having married and having kids and got my Associate's Degree [in Applied Science] at Germanna Community College. I took a couple, about a year or so, hiatus between that and putting an addition on our home. And then our daughter was born. I went back for a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration [from Ashford University Forbes School of Business]. Truth be told if I could go back and change some of the past, I probably would have went down the path of engineering. I love how things are built. I like how things start from a raw resource and how it's taken to a finished product, whether it's a building or a piece of machinery. Realizing the only pathways for advancement to a director or a general manager or some type of management position, would either be an engineering or public administration or business administration degree.

As far as special certifications, I am licensed in water and waste water which is through Department of Professional Occupation and Regulations (DPOR). I'm a Class I Waste Water Operator and a Class II Water Operator. Just real brief, that gives you permission to run those class facilities in the state of Virginia. If you want a Class I license you need to work at a minimum of a Class II facility. And you can substitute some experience to get that Class I if you don't have anything at that level. So that's why I never went on to a Class I water.

No military service.

Decided to enter politics. I was elected to office and started my first term on the Madison County Board of Supervisors in 2012. Reelected in 2015 for a second term. On the Board level I've held position of Vice Chair for the last three years. Never sought Chairman because of work schedule and duties. I believe you've got to have the time if you're going to commit. Several committee assignments in that. Member of the Blue Ridge Committee. They're the 8 counties that make up Shenandoah National Park. Each have representatives so I was the representative for Madison County. Also sit on the Rappahannock River Basin Commission. I've actually been their Vice Chair. That's made up of local and state elected officials plus other folks that are in the soil and water conservation district. You learn a lot. I love it because of the work I do. But it gives you an opportunity. Of course King George, Mr. Granger is the representative for King George. You get an opportunity what is going on. Some of the things like Ms. Brabo talked about like House Bill 1822, the Deputy Secretary was there talking about programs. So it's just various committee assignments. I don't want to list them all.

I don't know if you'd consider it a civic position but I've been a Sunday School teacher since roughly 2009. I think I took about a year and a half away from that when I changed churches. Really enjoy that. I wouldn't say that makes me a high school teacher or I'm jumping into the academia realm but I do enjoy working with children whether it's coaching youth basketball or any kind of position in the church.

Personal Questions

What do you remember about your grandparents?
I'm going answer that question from a two point view. Obviously I have two sets of grandparents, my mom's side and my father's side. So I'll start with my mother's.

On my mother's side there was a real, real closeness there. A lot of my first cousins we would always congregate at my grandmother's house on my mother's side. That's stuck with me growing up because that's really unique. In today's time you don't really have a lot of closeness. We're still dealing with times then where in a rural county a lot of families live close together. That trend is going away. I do remember family gatherings. We'd have a cook out. I just remember family and the closeness and the laughing. Whether they were gathering to play cards, throwing darts, whatever we did it brought the cousins together, we got that chance to grow up together and share experiences. You become more like best friends than like family.

On my father's side, I'm not saying religion doesn't exist on my mother's side but on my father's side my grandmother was very, very, I don't want to profile her, but very strict Pentecostal. Loving, wasn't judging there, but you literally went to her house and there was no TV, they had a radio that very seldom came on. But when you were there you enjoyed your time because you talked. You didn't have gadgets like your phone and stuff. IF cousins showed up there, you were either talking to your aunt or uncle when you were spoken to but it was family centered. But that generally happened on Sundays. You generally hear about going to grandmas on Sundays after church, that was the side of the family we did that on. I really, really take away from my grandfather that he didn't speak much but when he did it caught your attention. For one, he had a voice that had a bass with it that would roar but he got your attention. He didn't speak a lot but when he did, it was more getting kids in line if you were cutting up at his house. You could sense he was a hard worker.

Both sides of my grandparents were hard workers. Both grandmothers were stay at home. Both grandfathers just worked up until their late 60s into their early 70s. So I remember hard work and family values on both sides of the family.

My grandfather on my mom's side loved fishing. So it gave us something to talk about, the outdoors. My grandfather on my dad's side a lot of the family there, it was a big age difference, gap in generations. If you put a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, year old in a room with folks that are very late 60s, into their 70s, not a lot of communication. Right or wrong or indifferent. There was a lot of closeness in age and generations on my mother's side. Not too much interaction other than maybe they would ask how school was going but not a lot of other memories of either grandfather.

What historical events influenced your life the most?
Obviously growing up in the 80s and maturing in the 90s, I can remember things like the fall of the Berlin Wall. Tragically the Challenger event. I remember watching that on TV in elementary school. That was just something that I can remember talking to my parents about what happened and had to have death explained to you. It's still hard to fathom that event. I remember at, I think it was the 200th anniversary of the Bill of Rights, going to Montpelier, President George H. W. Bush came and gave that address. I was a member of the student government council at that time so I had the pleasure to go with a couple of other students.

Obviously you mentioned some past wars and events. I remember the wars or operations going on at the time like Desert Storm. Sense of country was big in my family. My father was Air Force, uncles were Army, so definitely I would say that family values and love for country was demonstrated through family or things that I saw on TV. Those events brought people together, even though the fall of the wall was more another country but it showed our country coming together. The disaster of the Challenger brought people together. Similar was 9/11, but in a different way, but it brought people together. Being proud, also not forgetting those dark periods in history. We know we have those dark periods in our country's history and it's uncomfortable to talk about them but I don't believe in rewriting history. I believe in learning from history and hopefully that learning will shape a better future.

I wouldn't say any one of those may have directed me down a certain path but it's given me an appreciation of life, an appreciation of commitment of our people in this country that when times are bad to truly love one another as we should each and every day.

Outside of work and home, what is your favorite place in King George?
So in King George, obviously, my time here is has been short but that will grow as my tenure grows here if my family makes a decision to relocate. I put this down here as a joke but right now Sheetz. It's the closest "restaurant" to my office. But honestly the draw is probably, as many have come here, I enjoy the time I get to go down to Fairview Beach. I love the water. I think it's beautiful there. I know folks think beach and are probably thinking about  25 or 50 yards of beachfront. That's not the case there but I love the water. I think the marina in Dahlgren is a beautiful place. Anytime you can go out to, I know boats will start running on the river soon, but there is some tranquility about it, beauty. Coming through Port Royal a few weeks ago coming into King George, I just like being by the water. Fairview Beach is where I've been the most but I think you have a beauty in both the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. You're in a very unique geographical area. I think you're going to continue to draw folks but I love the water front areas that you have in King George.

Now if you're asking me as a kid what was my favorite, anything outdoors, sports, ripping and running with cousins that lived close by. Enjoyed a lot of outdoor sports. Any of those kind of family functions.

But definitely thinking about a membership here at the YMCA. That is in my near future. I've been impressed with your facilities. The Y could potentially be a new favorite place for me. Definitely the water front that you have here, it's definitely peaceful.

What person, place, or thing do you think is the most underappreciated in King George County?
I don't want this to be too much of a theme but it's pretty self explanatory that I need more time and tenure here to answer some of these questions. It may change but for right now, coming from a rural county and working in a rural county, that was one of the things that attracted me. I'm hoping folks appreciate that. I know growth is expected with the adding additional lanes to the Harry Nice Bridge but hopefully through planning and public hearings and public input through your Comprehensive Plan and zoning, that will track with what the public wants. Because once you develop land, you don't gain that back. So the rural character. Obviously I don't know the population here like you so I don't know if that's underappreciated but it can be if you think it's going to be rural forever. But when you have development come in so, obviously from the Service Authority side I want customers, but you have to stay true to what your Comprehensive Plan states. The ruralness of this county could be underappreciated.

Person, place, I'm not sure. Again, you do have history here. Something I've talked to a couple of staff members about the history. I don't think folks want to talk about John Wilkes Booth for example, but there are other folks that have traversed the county here. Maybe embracing that heritage more. I don't know if you have any heritage days that outline things or a heritage tour that talks about those leaders or influential people that have been born in the county or traversed the county. But I think those can be underappreciated.

Professional Questions

Who is your inspiration or mentor?
Well, I've got a few listed down here. First and foremost, not to turn this into a sermon, but Jesus Christ. I don't go out and wear it on a sleeve or try to indoctrinate folks but as a Christian I do look to faith and scripture. My father, he was a single parent. My parents got divorced when I was around ten. It's probably uncommon to have a father as a single parent in that situation but praise God that worked out well. Anything from hard work to sportsmanship to how to be a gentleman. Your manners. How to treat elders. All of that I learned from my father. Politics, on the Sundays we didn't go to church, I remember watching the McLaughlin Group. Meet the Press back in the good days with Tim Russert. Those were all inspirational moments. Naturally if your parent is interested in something then you may be interested. But why are you interested? He would take time out to explain things. I also have an uncle. My father is deceased. He passed in 2004 of skin cancer. I have an uncle who I think of as a second father. I had some rough teenage years and he helped guide and direct me. He wasn't necessarily there to be your friend but he'd give you that advice. Like hey, I've noticed behaviors and you've got some choices. Kind of like the old cliche of continuing down this path or make a right and make better choices. So he's been there for me in the mentor role. Obviously as my father is gone I look to him a lot more for guidance. He continues to build off of the qualities that my father instilled in me. He's provided a lot of professional advice for my career. He worked in local government for probably 24 years, a lot of it in the utility. I've learned a lot from him like utility inspections, distributions, water systems, things of that nature. But he had a real mind for it. He's a lot more intelligent than he gives himself credit for. He could probably crunch numbers with the best mathematicians or engineers.

I had some other folks along the way. So maybe a laundry list that may be too long. Again, from my a single parent home. My father worked long hours. He worked as a plumber. The company out of Northern Virginia. A lot of his jobs would be Northern Virginia or Maryland. So it would be early mornings and late evenings. My sister is five years apart so she had a lot of hand in making sure food was on the table. Homework was done. But then there were my close friends parents who, when I look back I don't think they treated me as a sympathy case but they realized the situation and were always loving and included you on things. Whether it was family picnics or family trips.

I've had a lot of folks along the way. On the professional side, I've had two folks I'd like to mention to give some kudos. Actually three people. Don Hearl is a professional. He's still in the utility business. I think his title is currently Vice President for Environmental System Services. They've got a headquarters out of Culpeper County but they have some satellite facilities across the state. They handle anything from consulting in the utility businesses to running a commercial lab for water and waste water testing. They will run the system for you. They have contracted services. But he's been a gentlemen that has worked his way through and fully understands water and waste water. He sits on various boards. The DPOR board that creates the exam that operators have to take, he provides questions for the board. He's on many other sounding boards and national organizations. I've been able to look to him for advice and questions along the way.

Wayne Staples, he's out of the training office of the Department of Environmental Quality. I'm not sure if his main office is in Richmond or Woodbridge. Wayne I met early on when I started this profession in 2000. As a trainer you go to different sites, you get to see different treatment, you get to ask different questions. That's the main thing, not being too prideful to ask questions, those folks are there to help and Wayne has always been one of those folks that I've had a dialog with. He's been able to provide some advice.

Lastly, Paul Howard. Technically Paul Howard Jr. He's director of Environmental Services for Culpeper County. He's been there since 1995 I think. I was young to the position of Chief Operator of water and waste water of Culpeper County and that kind of morphed into more and more as to what I'm doing now. You think you're just handling treatment then it goes to utility inspections, maintaining the collection and distribution system and so forth. A lot of training and guidance along the way of things just simply keeping your notes and how you keep them in order and how you track projects. Holding you accountable if you're not meeting the expectations or if you misunderstood something. Whatever the situation was, you would have these 360 or 180 degree review periods. So it provided a lot of growth. If you showed interest in learning something new, he provided that. So looking back, any of those good or bad situations, I think he was fair and he definitely fostered a learning environment. He'd always tell you "I don't know where the pay is going to shake out" because that was controlled by a Board but he always said we'd have the opportunity for education and he's done that for many folks over the years. So been a lot of folks that have left that organization that have gone on to bigger and better things but I think the credit he is due should be mentioned. I worked for him for almost 12 years.

What is your ideal vision for King George County in the future?
Generally, from the Service Authority's perspective, financial stability. We've got a lot of ways to work towards that, not only to be financially stable but to let this be a sustainable business model. I truly believe to my core, this isn't fluff, that we can get there it's just that we really have to dig out of the crater. Being financially stable and sustainable, reliable infrastructure. Some of these are going to morph together with the next couple questions but I'd also say being fair to our customers. Not necessarily from a customer service standpoint, that should go without saying. But fair with our rates and being competitive as well. You can't do a lot of the stuff with the infrastructure until you're financially sound. We're trying to work through that right now. Part of the debt restructuring is to give us head room. That is one of the main advantages in this loan is that you will restructure debt and you will get anywhere from probably, hopefully $500,000 to as much as $700,000 in head room between the existing debt service of $2.5 million. You could get it down to $1.5 million. You're probably going to be at $1.6 or $1.7 million. That will give us some operational money to address the backlog. But, again, not to get too far off task, to get financially stable and sustainable and to have reliable infrastructure for current and future customers.

What do you feel are the top 3 issues to address in King George?
From the Service Authority perspective, lowering the debt. We've got to do that. It's the only fiscally responsible thing to do. I know that's probably tongue and cheek because we're looking to borrow more but as we get more connections and things continue to shape up maybe we can look at a debt mitigation plan similar to the County's. Obviously our revenue streams are different. Lowering our debt.

Reviewing and revising connection fees and being competitive and fair. So some of this we're going to have discussions starting in mid-June of this year but it's all got to be based on equity, fairness, and what folks around us are doing. We should be able to at least quantify, qualify what we're charging and we're not there yet. I believe we can get there but we need to be competitive.

The plan for growth, as I've mentioned, the construction of the bridge is expected to double traffic. I've heard some in the County mention that it may be as much as triple. That's a lot. From an infrastructure standpoint, you can't serve those customers by cutting a light switch on and off. You've got to have pipe in the ground. But you don't put pipe in the ground until you've had these long and lengthy discussions and public hearings and things of that nature. We're sensitive to that growth. We don't want to be ahead of the County meaning that we don't want to be ahead of its desire and plan for growth. Those areas that the Board of Supervisors have deemed for growth, those need to be the areas that we need to serve. Let's say there's a 50 home development going in, we need to look at the whole area of defined planned growth and what can be the maximum potential to serve.

So I think those are our big three issues right now. Some of those, actually all three of those, we're starting to look at right now and work. Reviewing and revising connection fees will be this month [May 2019]. My recommendation would be to not implement anything until next fiscal year because our rates are set. Planning for growth is something we're doing as part of the decommission plan consideration.

What do you feel are the top 3 successes in King George?
I don't want to try to give a "no answer" or a blank comment if you will. Just in the six months of being here, what I've reviewed in paper and some of the stories you get from your Google machine, I would say hiring a competent and professional County Administrator. I'll back that up by saying you can walk through the building over there and it's apparent that the operation he runs, the respect he commands, but I believe I would say he's earned. The way he runs the meetings. No disrespect to the Chair, I just mean the Agenda, the structure, and the flow. I think that's helpful because you have to have good leadership.

I'm going to struggle to give you a couple more. I don't know if you want to give us [the Service Authority] a success story yet, we've got still a lot of ways to go. We've turned a page as far as being responsible and replying and doing things that the state has required we should be doing. I'm not sure I'd call that a success, that should be a plain expectation. So I honestly am going to struggle for the other two just due to my lack of time here and my knowledge.

I'm pulling for teeth here but your facilities are phenomenal. It gives space for the community, every community, especially rural communities, can come out and enjoy and promote some of the business community. You can use any of these rooms at the library. It provides for meetings or consulting firms or potential business clients to come in and meet. It gives a good impression of the County. I'd just say the planning and the facilities. Beyond that, I would be stretching to give you the full three.

What person, place, or thing do you think we lack in King George?
I thought about that a little bit and I need to become a little more familiar with the area. I'm not sure the residents here want to do this but going back to one of your biggest draws, other than the low tax rates, would be waterfront. Your Potomac. Are we utilizing that to draw people here? When I say draw people here, I mean more from a transient stand point so you're getting that tourism fund but not the impact on your infrastructure, first responders, or other services. More of a draw from a tourism standpoint and utilizing the water. I'm not saying to start bringing twenty charter services out to the Potomac like a taxi cab. But things like kayak rentals or canoes. I think of a place in Culpeper where they allow paddle boats, stand up paddle boards. They have all this activity and it's a great draw because it's rental fees coming in. You're getting more money than you're paying the person to sit there to manage it. So more tour promotion, more tourism because that's less impactful on services.

Promote more of what you have. I keep going back to heritage tours or whatever the proper name is, but embrace the history here. You've got a state park that I've got to go visit that I didn't know was here. Caledon State Park. I learned that there was a railroad at one time but other than that I don't know what it's claim to fame is. Basically embracing what you have here. Any of these little brochure centers or kiosks have a place to put your information. Do you have a tourism center that promotes King George? Do you have an economic development that's doing that, that's promoting King George? Are you part of an economic development partnership? There are organizations that are out there like GO Virginia that have funds. They go around the state and look at shovel ready sites for potential business. I think embracing tourism and advertising and getting the word out about what is unique about King George. The history. You see a lot of founded in 1700s or 1800s but you don't see the older history that you do here in King George. Just highlight that. That basically sums up what I have.

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