Continued Corruption in Gloucester County, Virginia

Gloucester County, Virginia’s track record of not having many persons interested in serving on the School Board continues to make it easy for the Gloucester County Public School System to be used as a tool to fulfill the interests of a select few with little regard to the effect on the education process.  The Gloucester County School Board has a newly elected member who turns out to be a developer who is involved in the creation of a mixed use development (MUD) at the intersection of T.C. Walker Road and Route 17.  It is about 400 acres of property that is mostly farm fields next to the old Page Middle School and current bus garage property.

  Examples of MUD are New Town and High Street in Williamsburg and City Center in Newport News.  The concept of a MUD like these is to provide a place for people to live, work and play. Successful MUDs are supported by people intense hubs like colleges, universities, high volume tourism, multiple large commercial or industrial businesses, etc.  In essence, the hub of a successful MUD is something that establishes and maintains a constant high volume of people. Gloucester County does not possess such a hub.

 

According to tax records and School Board meeting minutes; one day prior to the School Board’s December 13, 2011 vote to rebuild Page Middle School on property known as Tax Map #39-198, Harry Corr purchased all Route 17 road frontage property that connects to the new Page property.  These parcels of land are known as Tax Map #39-198A, Tax Map #39-198B and Tax Map # 39-199.  Tax records reflect that Mr. Corr purchased the three properties for $630,000 which is more than six times the current assessed value.  The value of the property Mr. Corr purchased will substantially increase and the cost to develop it will greatly decrease as a result of improvements to the Route 17 and T.C. Walker intersection and the extension of public water service to that side of Route 17.  These improvements and extensions are part of the Page project and are funded by GCPS and VDOT. (TAX DOLLARS)  This should be raising alarm bells because it appears Mr. Corr possessed insider or advance knowledge of what the outcome of the School Board’s vote was going to be.

 

Mr. Corr also owns and controls about 400 acres of land that is fronted by Route 17, connects to the old Page Middle School land and connecting Gloucester Public School’s transportation complex, connects to Hickory Fork Road and will greatly benefit from the signalization of the T.C. Walker Road and Route 17 intersection.  This is the property that Douglas S. Meredith, Director of the Gloucester Economic Development Authority pointed out as the location of a currently conceived MUD during his presentation to the Board of Supervisors on March 18, 2014. Mr. Meredith also shared that Charles Records was the developer and elaborated on the value of the old Page and bus complex properties to the MUD.  He also shared that various surveys have been done on Mr. Corr’s property and provided general information on the results.

 

Charles Records ran uncontested and was elected to the School Board in November 2013.  The same Charles Records who continually asserts how valuable the old Page and bus complex properties are and is a staunch supporter of selling it.  Selling it would mean building a new bus complex at a different location and tearing down the existing and usable buildings. So far this MUD has consumed what would have been a 30 plus million dollar school complex that would have cost the tax payers 10 million dollars.  All that had to be done was follow the insurance company recommendations after the 2011 tornado.  Now Gloucester County tax payers are not only faced with a 20 million dollar lose but also 20 million dollars in unnecessary debt to build the new Page Middle School.  

 

How much more money are the tax payers of Gloucester County supposed to watch get burned up in Harry Corr’s, Charles Records’ and a select few others’ trash barrel.  What do almost all of the residents of Gloucester get out of what Harry Corr, Charles Records and a few others are doing? Nothing.  Nothing at all.  They just get to watch millions of their tax dollars go towards making a very small number of people rich.  They get to pay unnecessary taxes and fees.  They get to watch their public education system degrade.  They get to watch valuable infrastructure fall apart.  They get to watch and absorb excessive and unnecessary borrowing.  They get to continue to distrust those responsible for operating the County and Public School System.

 

The high level of corruption that exists within the Gloucester County Public Education System is crystal clear and Charles Records appears to be a willing participant in that corruption and should resign his position on the Gloucester County School Board immediately.

 

Submitted by:

“Watching Them In Plain Sight”

 

“Watching Them In Plain Sight” is a non-political citizen based group focusing on identifying and exposing local government corruption, waste and misuse.  We encourage anyone with knowledge of corruption, waste or misuse within Gloucester County’s government or the Gloucester County Public School System to contact us at WatchingThemInPlainSight@gmail.com.  Your identity will not be publicly disclosed without your written permission. 

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Gloucester, VA Container Use Ordinances and Codes Updated

17 Courthouse Area, Container in the back visible from the highway.  

Closer view of the container on the left back side.

Route 17 south, Ordinary.  Container to the left in back.  Visible from highway.

As the one directly above only more of a side view.

Route 17, south, Gloucester Point.  Container next to billboard.

Route 17 South.  Container barely, but, still visible from highway behind shop.

Route 17 South, Container sticks out just enough from side of building to be seen from highway.

Route 17 South.  One container stuck out from side of building just enough to be visible from highway.  When we went back behind area this is what we saw.  4 Containers.

Route 17 South.  S&B Muffler and Brakes.  To the right of the building behind little dumpster.  Very visible from highway.

Again, we are not picking on any business by any means.  The board of Supervisors are looking at ordinances that will affect the future use of containers on any property in the county.  At the moment, every single one of these businesses are in violation of county ordinances.  The county does not enforce these ordinances in any way unless of course, you are foolish enough to ask for the county's permission.  Best advice?  Do not ask for permission, just do it.   If you get questioned, refer them to this site.

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Ted Wilmot Explains FOIA Meetings Policies and Proceedures

You want to turn the volume up on your speakers as well as on the video itself to watch this and hear it properly.  Ted Wilmot and Brenda Garton actually do a decent job of explaining FOIA meetings to the Board of Supervisors.  5 stars to Ted on this one.  He actually acted like an attorney.  (Guess we can't beat him up on this one).  Some dirty little secrets get revealed in this meeting.  Watch and listen closely.  Mr Bazzani, please turn your microphone on when speaking.  Thank you.  Found some other interesting information on the Agenda that we will be sharing soon.

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All I want for Christmas

Open Letter to the Citizens of Gloucester County Virginia

“For the Common Good. “

The Virginia Constitution was written for us to limit the government intrusion into our lives.  Have you ever read the Constitution of the United States?  How about the Constitution of Virginia?

All I want for Christmas "The Land of the Life Worth Living" for everyone in the county.

1.       A constitutional local government

2.      A fiscal responsible county government

3.      A moral county government

4.      A local government that listens to the people

5.      An ethical county government

As I look back over this past year there have been a number of things we have pointed out that need to be examined by outside organizations to ensure they are legal.  Based on Mr Thompson’s blogs and what is required to get state level investigation started.  The Attorney General office will investigate if requested by elected officials, Board of Supervisors, Treasurer, Sheriff, Commonwealth Attorney, and some non elected officials County Attorney, and Judges. None of these people have requested outside investigation so one has to wonder about the honesty and integrity of our officials.  Are any of them honest?  Do they have the ethical moral fortitude to be in these positions?  We have to wonder.  The County Attorney and Administrator have done nothing to show they understand the definition of any of the things asked for, above, for Christmas.

  

Bring back the rule of legal laws and make this "The Land of the Life Worth Living" for everyone in the county.

I am not a lawyer and cannot give legal advice.  Our founding fathers used common sense and Christian scripture when establishing our founding documents. 

“For the Common Good. “

Sincerely,

Alexander James Jay

P.S.  "We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt." --Thomas Jefferson

"A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government." --Alexander Hamilton, 1794

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Gloucester, VA Judges Private Vehicle Chambers Pushed Off Til Later Date

The Gloucester Board of Supervisors have pushed off making a decision on the requested private vehicle chambers for the Gloucester, Virginia Judges who have expressed a concern for their own safety and want special privileges not afforded anyone else.

  Part of the reason why the decision was held off was that the requests coming from 3 judges are all different as to what they want and the estimate for a new private security area was done in a rush in hopes that the present board would push it through for the judges.  With 3 Board of Supervisors now leaving, they could have taken the heat for yet another decision where tax spending continued uncontrolled.  It will now come before the new board that is coming in to make the decision if they want to fund the private security for 2 of the 3 judges as one of the 3 is retiring at the end of this year.

  The issue we brought up on this site about the Judges needing the local law enforcement to hold their hands as they enter and leave was brought up and Sheriff Darrel Warren stated that the Sheriff's office has provided that service, however, there is a cost for that as well and someone would always have to be on hold to continue to do so.  The private chambers for the Judges vehicles still does not provide the Judges with safe security and they would still need a county sheriff's deputy from time to time should they feel threatened.  So what is the point?  What makes these people think they are above all the rest of us?

  Mr Chrisco seemed to be the only voice of reason on the Board that kept the decision from being pushed through tonight on this issue for providing funding without more information as to exactly what was being funded and how much.  If the judges really want to trap themselves like rats in a cage, we say let them.  However, let them pay for it.  Then they can build themselves a castle for all we care.  Do we really want to live in a Banana Republic?  Our Judges are telling us it's already here.  Are they part of the problem?

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Gloucester, VA Early Board of Supervisors Results, Meyer, Bazzani and Winebarger, Keith Hodges Wins Delegate Race

Early results for who won the Board of Supervisors race are in and here are the results.  John Meyer won the At Large position for the county.  Mike Winebarger took the Petsworth district and Phil Bazzani took the York district.

  Congratulations gentlemen.  We see a very positive future for the county under the new leadership coming in.

  Keith Hodges maintained his seat on the house of delegates.  Congratulations to Mr Hodges.

Gloucester, VA Board of Supervisors Consider Ordinance To Cheat The IRS?

Gloucester, Virginia:  The Board of Supervisors to consider changes to it's local ordinance that has not been in compliance with state code is now being considered for change.  The wording still does not reflect state code which would mean in our book, a violation to the Dillon Rule and further seeks to sell guns, under certain circumstances, for one dollar each.

  Now on the one hand to be as fair as possible on the one dollar gun sale, we can go along with it under proper considerations.  According to the new ordinance being considered, a Sheriff's deputy can buy his firearm from the county, after 20 years of service, and upon retirement from service, for one dollar.  If a deputy retires before 20 years of service, and after 15 years of service according to the new ordinance, the deputy can buy the gun at fair market value.

  Here is where there is a real problem with the 20 year plan.  It's at taxpayer expense.  Now, if the gun, after 20 years of service, is at a fair market value of let's say $250.00, that is a loss of $249.00 per person, who retires, to the taxpayers.  Now if the ordinance took into consideration the tax ramifications of this ordinance, then wording should have been put into the documents being considered that the one dollar purchase consideration is with the note that the remaining balance of the the fair market value will be added to the compensation  of the retiring officer for tax purposes.

  In other words, no free rides.  We are not looking to take anything away from anyone who has committed a life to law enforcement.  There are plenty of deserving law enforcement officers that should get a fair break.  The tax compensation liability is still more than fair and much less than paying fair market value and is still fair to all taxpayers.  Under present consideration however, the county has the documents that fail to take this aspect into consideration which to us is cheating the taxpayers not only of the county, but the state and at the federal level as well.  It's still compensation and must be factored in.  The ordinance as it is worded is a free ride and cheats everyone.

  Further, state code does not recognize Animal Control as deserving any considerations for the purchase of handguns at anytime from what we have read.  Even if the county allows it with this ordinance change, it has become to late for ex Animal Control officer, Carl Shipley, to fall into the new ordinance to purchase his handgun.  Is the Board of Supervisors going to go out violating more state codes and potentially cheating the taxpayers and the state along with the IRS?  This Tuesday's board meeting will be a very telling tale.

Also, how could county attorney, Twitching Ted (I'm Not An Attorney) Wilmot, the court jester, write this kind of dribble without showing proof that Animal Control should even be considered?  And is the board going to buy this dribble without proof of such?

Below is the documentation from the county on all of this.  Because we can't make this stuff up.

Gloucester, VA One Dollar Gun Sales Update from Chuck Thompson

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