2019-11-01 - Planning Commission Public Hearing

The King George County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing beginning at 7:00 p.m., on Tuesday, November 12, 2019, in the Board Room. Due to the lengthy Agenda an additional special Planning Commission meeting will be held. The special meeting will be held on Thursday, November 21, 2019, at 7:00 p.m. in the Board Room.

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REVIEW - The Diary of Anne Frank at King George High School

by Neil Richard

You are both blessed and cursed if you missed the recent production from the Theatre Department at King George High School. Blessed that you missed the intense emotion and cursed for missing yet another great production from teenage actors. This was not the uproarious comedy of The Princess King.

In what I can only describe as the most depressing play I've seen since Shenandoah at the Riverside Center, the student actors did a tremendous job of meeting the challenge head-on. With tact and poise, the cast was able to convey nearly every emotion from humor to terror. There were moments of happiness. Moments of laughter. Moments of sadness. Moments of shock. But through it all, the cast remained loyal to the themes and were adept at making those of us in the audience feel those feelings.

The cast consisted of:

• Alex Croce as Anne Frank
• Ally Miller as Margot Frank
• Aniyah Reynolds as Mrs. Frank
• Isak Watson as Mr. Frank
• Grace Terry as Mrs. Van Daan
• Ben Stone as Mr. Van Daan
• Jason Knott as Peter Van Daan
• Brandon Thomas as Mr. Dussel
• Kelly Hoffman as Miep
• Brandon Croce as Mr. Kraler
• Blake Ferro as a German Officer
• Andrew Denton as a German Officer

Alex, playing Anne, was able to skillfully go from acting like a little girl to being old enough to want to kiss boys. Ben and Grace, playing Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan, acted like you'd expect a married couple to act. Isak, playing Anne's father, was a wonderfully calm and cool character who kept everyone, including the audience, grounded.

Just like anyone that went to see the movie Titanic, we all knew how the story would end. But we still clung to some shred of hope that the story would take a turn and everyone would survive. In the end though, reality hit and the audience was left in tears as we heard seven of the eight Jews hiding in an attic would never live beyond the concentration camps.

Despite the audience leaving in tears, there was hope on the horizon. The Theatre Department will have two more productions this season that should be funnier. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will be on stage from January 22 to 25, 2020 and The Little Mermaid will be shown from April 29 to May 2, 2020. We recommend purchasing your tickets in advance.

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2019-10-15 - Board of Supervisors Meeting Notes

by Neil Richard

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Every single article published here on Project94 crosses at least two desks, goes before at least two sets of eyes, prior to publication.  On the occasion that I have written articles, Neil Richard has been my editor.  Likewise I have copy edited every piece he’s written.  We use each other as a sounding board during these sessions.  It’s worth noting that the four founding members of Project94 have different political ideologies.  It’s part of what makes this publication unique.  Collectively, we have no agenda other than to report the truth and let you, the readers, form your own opinions.  On those occasions when we publish our opinions we clearly label them as such.  I wrote a dissenting opinion piece on Chris Werle during the Service Authority fiasco, in part because I felt that his side of the story deserved to be told.  Neil and I remain friends in spite of this difference of opinion.  This is due, in no small part, to the quality of Neil’s character.


I say this because I want to be sure we are clear on this point: our allegiance is to truth, and to King George County.  Neil had misgivings about writing up his coverage of this particular meeting, for reasons that should become clear in the text of the article itself.  However it is our shared belief that providing coverage to you of your local government, and speaking the truth of the events of the night of October 15th, 2019, was the most important thing.  Neil was the man on the ground that night.  If you’re of the opinion that another reporter should have covered this, Neil would agree with you, and the decision to publish this rests squarely on my shoulders.
                                                                                               -- Sean Gates 10/17/2019

The Board of Supervisors began their meeting at 7:18pm.
There was an amendment to the Agenda to strike the presentation from the George Washington Regional Commission (GWRC). The amendment was approved.

Public Comment began with an announcement from Jeff Bueche that Public Comment would be limited to five minutes instead of the usual three minutes because of a request.

I gave Public Comment. To prevent any doubt over what I said, you can watch it here [beginning at 00:56].

2019-10-15 - Service Authority Meeting Notes

by Neil Richard

The Service Authority began their meeting promptly at 6:30pm.

There were no amendments to the Agenda.

There was no Public Comment.

Christopher Werle began his Board Report by saying he met with Mike Bennett and Jonathon Weakley, General Manager, to discuss the Wiley-Wilson Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) for the Purkins Corner Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP). On the same day, October 4th, he also attended the fundraiser dinner for the Gladys and Ira West Scholarship. On the 7th, Werle reviewed three years of power outage data from Dominion Energy in an effort to complete the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) grant application. He said he would go into more detail later in the evening. On the 8th he attended the joint session between the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. Werle also gave an update on the Fairview Beach riverbank stabilization project and said that FEMA has sent a memo to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regarding their conclusion that the project would not impact the short nosed sturgeon.

Q&A With Nick Minor

by Neil Richard

I had the chance to sit down with Nick Minor to ask him a few questions related to economic development and tourism. What I expected to be a brief interview turned into a 90 minute discussion! Here are the questions I had along with some from your neighbors.

Question: What is your role within the County government?
Answer: I'm the Director of Economic Development and Tourism. I promote the County in the best possible way I know how and involve the appropriate stakeholders like the Board of Supervisors, Economic Development Authority, etc. I plan and direct the County so it's prepared for future growth but also for potential setbacks in the economy. King George is heavily dependent on the government with the base in Dahlgren so a hit to them will be hard on all of us. If we can diversify the County so it's a mix of residential, retail, industry and more. Also a mix between government and non-government.

OPINION - Finalized CIP Means Smaller Courthouse

by Neil Richard

On October 23rd, the Board of Supervisors met to finalize their Capital Improvement Program (CIP) plan for the coming year. There was bad news and worse news, depending on where you stand with the idea of a new Courthouse.

Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, broke the bad news first. Any future capital projects would need to be funded by borrowing more money. And to cover that new borrowing, tax rates would need to go up. In breaking down his math, Dr. Young explained that future revenue from the landfill has already been leveraged in full. While this has already been discussed at length by the Board for several years, Young went on to explain that by including the annual school bus purchase, annual ambulance purchase, and annual Sheriff's Office radio purchases, the expected funding available from the landfill drops to a paltry $192,000 per year. [EDITOR'S NOTE - Neil Richard, a co-founder of Project94, is the Chair of the Landfill Advisory Committee.]

This led to the data showing that any new borrowing would result in an annual debt payment. In other words, borrowing money means a loan payment needs to be made. Using the current King George Middle School Expansion Project as a rough estimate, Young said that for every $10 million borrowed, $500,000 a year in loan payments would need to be made. Although other variables like the market, interest rates, and costs weren't factored into this estimate, it was a solid starting point for wrapping your head around future borrowing.

From here, Dr. Young explained that a one (1) cent tax increase means $270,000 in revenue for the County. Therefore, $500,000 in loan payments equals a two (2) cent tax increase. Which means that if the County wants to borrow $40 million to build a giant warehouse for Beanie Babies, they would need to raise taxes eight (8) cents to cover the cost of the annual loan payment.

Dr. Young then laid out the real bad news of the night. Due to upcoming financial needs, a tax increase is needed. The SAFER Grant expires soon and will need one to two cents to cover the costs. The Virginia Retirement System (VRS) hasn't raised rates and will likely do so in the coming year resulting in a one to two cent tax increase. Another penny increase would be needed to cover the increased cost of healthcare and another penny for the Rappahannock Regional Jail. The school budget would also likely result in another two or three cents. While all of the projections and predictions were not verified and set in stone, they gave the Board a solid gut check in looking at what the future held: the high probability of a tax increase.

With the bad news out of the way, Dr. Young asked the Supervisors to come to a consensus on the Courthouse decision. With the new information in front of them, the Board discussed where they stood. A majority decided that a 50,000 square foot Courthouse was the best option. This would mean no more 13,000 square feet of shared space for the County staff as they discussed at their last CIP meeting on the Courthouse. It also meant that the Courthouse would double in size but still be smaller than what they needed as soon as they move in. Cathy Binder was the lone Supervisor asking for more space and more to preserve the existing Courthouse but to manage everything through a phased approach. The residents on the Citizen Budget Advisory Committee and the rest of the Supervisors agreed that 50,000 square feet seemed adequate and that the existing Courthouse should be preserved in some way. If that meant removing newer portions or remodeling or something else was yet to be decided. However, both Binder and Vic Mason did let the Board know that the mold had returned to the Courthouse despite recent remediation work.

Once that decision was made, the Board then went on to discuss other capital projects and it was decided that a committee of citizens would likely be a good thing to have to help the Supervisors gather more input and new ideas. Part of that discussion was the future needs of the School Board, their offices, and the Pre-School. Some Supervisors seemed to be frustrated that the School Board hadn't taken action on the old King George Elementary School or other projects over the years.

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Candidate Interviews 4 of 4 - Board of Supervisors

by Neil Richard


Editor's Note: Board of Supervisors, At-Large District, is currently held by Ruby Brabo. Annie Cupka is also running for the same position. Board of Supervisors, James Madison District, is currently held by Richard Granger. He is running unopposed. Board of Supervisors, Dahlgren District, is currently held by John Jenkins. He previously announced he is not running for re-election. Jeff Stonehill is running to fill the vacancy.

Candidate: Ruby Brabo

Q: When did you arrive in King George and why did you choose to live here?
A: I moved here in 2005 from Germany. My ex-husband and I chose King George because we used to live in Stafford prior to going to Germany and he didn’t want to commute to DC on 95 North anymore. I was familiar with the area from our time in Stafford so I told him 301 was a better route. The time it took him never changed from when we moved back to when he retired. When we first moved to Stafford, there was one stoplight on Garrisonville Road. By the time we left seven years later, it took me 40 minutes to go two miles. I didn’t really care that King George didn’t have all the amenities at the time, I just like the peaceful, rural nature.

Q: What made you want to run for office?
A: I was actually asked by the Citizens for Non-Partisan Good Government to run for office in April of 2011. I always enjoyed politics and would create flyers for the community about where to vote and about big issues before that. I also spent four years as the President of my Homeowners Association and was able to prove that the County should not have let the developer leave before the infrastructure was complete. One of the comments I heard a lot was “you weren’t afraid to stand up to these guys.” They were rude to me and I had nothing to lose.

Q: What do you do in your free time for stress relief or as a hobby?
A: I like to run, mountain bike, and garden in my yard. I also like to crochet. It helps me unwind after long meetings.

Q: How would you promote unity within King George?
A: I believe we can have unity and come together. I try to do that more so now than eight years ago. The best way to promote unity is to focus on the issues and to find solutions. Everyone wants a good quality of life and loves this community.

Q: If you received a $1 million grant to use for King George any way you wanted, what would you do with it and why?
A: A million dollars doesn’t do a lot with our issues. What could we realistically accomplish? My gut says, and some people may not like it, to give the money to someone like the King George Education Foundation (KGEF). A million dollars won’t solve our major issues like bike lanes or broadband. But KGEF could do a lot more over a longer time with that much money.

Campaign Finance Reports

Candidate: Annie Cupka

Q: When did you arrive in King George and why did you choose to live here?

A: November 17, 2005. My twins had just turned 1. We moved from Woodbridge, Virginia and found a place in the woods. We wanted to raise our kids in a rural area so we left our quarter acre lot in a subdivision for ten acres of trees. They can go out the front door and explore. My husband’s grandfather took him hunting in Mathias Point so he remembers it from when he was a kid being a great place. The schools are better now than they were 14 years ago but even back then they were better than what was in Woodbridge.


Q: What made you want to run for office?

A: Looking back on the jobs I’ve had in the past, I’ve always been a citizen servant. I worked as a police officer then stayed at home for five years raising our kids. After that, I volunteered at their school which led to me being a paraprofessional which led to being part of the King George Education Foundation which led to being a County employee in the Economic Development office. I feel like I’ve always served so this is the next step.


Q: What do you do in your free time for stress relief or as a hobby?

A: I like to garden, read, and go for walks. We also just bought kayaks and I’ve been enjoying that. I never really grew up in an outdoor or sports type of family.


Q: How would you promote unity within King George?

A: I feel like I’m already doing it in the schools with the King George Education Foundation (KGEF). A prime example is the Fox Smart Center. Our main mission at KGEF is unity. To take it to the next level, I think certain civic groups do well but we as a County don’t do it well. I’d like to see more community clean up days or beach clean ups. Ultimately I’d like to see a downtown area around the old Courthouse. Something like a Town Square there.


Q: If you received a $1 million grant to use for King George any way you wanted, what would you do with it and why?

A: As a grant writer, I have to ask if there are strings attached. If there are no strings attached, I’d like to use it as seed money for a larger matching grant. The sexy answer is broadband but that may not be the right answer. I’d like to see more fire stations but that would leave the need to staff them. I think the most practical answer is to help with the Service Authority infrastructure. There are too many needs there. Not all houses are served by the Service Authority but we have to do something.

Campaign Finance Reports

Candidate: Richard Granger

Q: When did you arrive in King George and why did you choose to live here?

A: April of 2005. We used to live in Southern Maryland for five years prior to that but wanted a better place, better schools to raise our kids and my wife’s family lived here. Our realtor connected us to Tommy Burrell Sr. and he built our house. Our new house has enough room for my wife’s horse and we really like the rural nature.


Q: What made you want to run for office?

A: I knew Jeff Bueche before either of us was elected to office and he suggested I should run. I laughed at him. I’m not outgoing and more of an introvert. I thought about it and prayed on it and talked to my wife about it. In the end I felt led by God. I was nervous about it but I do what I can. I’m running again because I don’t feel like my time is done. It’s always been in God’s hands so if I get reelected, it’s His choice.


Q: What do you do in your free time for stress relief or as a hobby?

A: I saw “free time” and chuckled. It really is a commodity so most of my free time is spent with family. But I like stories. Science Fiction and Fantasy. I like to read, watch TV and movies, and play video games in that genre. It’s a way to unwind. I also love sports. Hokies!


Q: How would you promote unity within King George?

A: I was thinking about this question and ended up looking up the definition of “unity” to see if it helped. I think of unity of purpose when I hear this question. To meet the needs of the citizens of the community. There may be less unity on how to meet those needs but that’s not always a bad thing. We have lots of passion. We need to step back and listen. So for me, to promote unity, I try to lead by example and listen to others. Hopefully this helps me make wiser decisions. Diversity is a good thing but we need to be unified in our common goal.


Q: If you received a $1 million grant to use for King George any way you wanted, what would you do with it and why?

A: A million dollars is really right in the middle. We can’t really use it for Capital Improvement Projects because those cost tens of millions but we could start by looking there. When I looked at the list, the King George Elementary School roof needs to be replaced and that’s expected to cost a million dollars. It’s not a fun answer but it’s something. I also think the Parks and Recreation Department sometimes takes a back seat to other departmental needs, like a new ambulance or something, so maybe repairing the tennis court or putting in a dog park. I’d probably look there, in Parks and Recreation, to see what can be done.

No Campaign Finance Reports Available.

Candidate: Jeff Stonehill

Q: When did you arrive in King George and why did you choose to live here?

A: I moved here in 1997 from Mechanicsville, Virginia. I worked for the Virginia Marine Police [part of the Virginia Marine Resource Commission] and patrolled from Westmoreland and King George all the way up to D.C. I really liked it here and gave up my boat in 2004 to become a deputy with the King George County Sheriff’s Office. I like that King George is close to the beaches and mountains and it’s between D.C. and Richmond. It’s close enough to the city when it’s needed.


Q: What made you want to run for office?

A: While patrolling, I found that I really enjoyed the Dahlgren area. When talking to residents, I found what was important to them. When I was patrolling one day, a woman said I should run for Board of Supervisors because she would vote for me. That planted the seed and I became more involved like serving on the Citizen Budget Advisory Committee. I retired from the Sheriff’s Office and decided to run. [John] Jenkins said he wasn’t running again and said he was comfortable with me taking his seat. I feel I have a unique insight as a retired County employee and a business owner. I know the pitfalls faced by prospective business owners in King George and know how the public wants to be treated by a County employee.


Q: What do you do in your free time for stress relief or as a hobby?

A: I don’t have much free time but I do try to take one day off a week to relax. My wife Marsha and I like to boat and sail and ride mountain bikes. I also enjoy the trails at Caledon State Park and hanging out with our cat and our horses.


Q: How would you promote unity within King George?

A: I would try to connect people by doing three things. I would support events, like an open mic night or fishing tournaments. I would connect people through community education and awareness. And I would encourage businesses to use local resources like the Chamber of Commerce to help sustain small businesses. It takes all of us to make a community and I’d strive to connect everyone in the County.


Q: If you received a $1 million grant to use for King George any way you wanted, what would you do with it and why?

A: I would set up a water connection fund for small businesses. As we know, the King George Service Authority is in a bad place now but it is getting better. This impacts growth and we need business growth for the County’s economy to thrive. But if our water and sewer connection charges continue as they are now, business will go elsewhere for more reasonable rates.

No Campaign Finance Reports Available.


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