Are Gloucester County’s Budgets By Administrator Fedors As Spectacular As York District Supervisor Bazzani Claims?

During a recent Gloucester County candidate forum, York District Supervisor Phillip Bazzani touted his vast experience in creating and managing budgets involving substantial amounts of money. He further insisted he knows every aspect of Gloucester’s 2018 budget. Supervisor Bazzani has also repeatedly publicly asserted that County Administrator Brent Fedors’ budget documents are the best he has seen in the 34 years he has lived in Gloucester. Are these assertions true? Here is what we know to be true and factual.

When Mr. Fedors presented his first budget to the Board of Supervisors and the public, it lacked details that were present in budgets prepared by his predecessors. When we pointed this out to Mr. Fedors he said,

“While we are not planning to add that level of detail to the proposed budget book for FY17, we are preparing a supplemental information piece for Board Members that does. I will make sure you get a copy when it is ready.”

After receiving his response, we forwarded the email conversation with Mr. Fedors and the following statement to the Board of Supervisors.

“I and others find Mr. Fedors' budget proposal and last response disturbing for a number of reasons and hope the majority of you do as well. Foremost, Mr. Fedors' budget process does not appear to include transparency; as the Code of Virginia requires the People to be presented information at the same time as the governing body. (Unless otherwise exempted by FOIA) Mr. Fedors' budget process does not appear to include an acceptable level of transparency which has led to restricting the People from data that is necessary to evaluate how their tax dollars are being spent. I will not say much more at this time as I understand Mr. Fedors' is new to the government game. On the other hand, his staff certainly are not. One would hope they would guide their new boss in a better direction.”

Mr. Fedors provided us the information piece as he promised, but even after we expressed our concerns to him and the Board of Supervisors, his FY18 budget demonstrated the same lack of transparency. Again we contacted Mr. Fedors via email to request line item data, which the Finance Director provided.

What we find concerning is the fact that Mr. Bazzani publicly stated Mr. Fedors’ FY17 Budget was the most comprehensive budget document he has seen in all his years of managing budgets. How could anyone make such a statement about a budget document that lacks the amount of detail Mr. Fedors’ lacked? The FY17 budget email conversation we have shared below clearly demonstrates the Board of Supervisor did not have the necessary data to effectively scrutinize Mr. Fedors’ proposed budget until several days after Mr. Bazzani praised Mr. Fedors.

We have provided Slideshare presentations of both of Mr. Fedors’ budgets and the last budget his predecessor prepared. We have provided our email conversations with Mr. Fedors, the Finance Director and the Board of Supervisors, as well as Slideshare presentations of the data we were forced to request from Mr. Fedors. We have also provided some video clips for your enjoyment. Though there are numerous other transparency shortcomings and many wasteful spending practices that we have not touched on here, we ask you to take special notice of the difference in the amount of data provided for budgeted expenditures for each department. You will see that Mr. Fedors combined budgeted expenditures into three line items for each department, whereas his predecessor had many more line items for each department. What are they trying to hide??

Written comments may be emailed to Kennysr61@gmail.com

Read more stories at: http://www.gloucestercounty-va.com/

Supervisor Bazzani stating he knows every aspect of the budget


 

Supervisor Bazzani praising Mr. Fedors' FY17 budget even before Mr. Fedors' information piece with detailed data was provided.

FY16 Budget (General fund expenditures begin on Slideshare page 75)

Gloucester county va adopted fy16 budget capital budget from Kenneth Hogge Sr 

FY17 Budget (General fund expenditures begin on Slideshare page 66)

Gloucester county virginia fy17 adopted budget and capital budget from Kenneth Hogge Sr

FY18 Budget (General fund expenditures begin on Slideshare page 71)

Gloucester county va adopted fy18 budget capital budget from Kenneth Hogge Sr 

FY17 info we were forced to requested from Mr. Fedors

Fy17 ca proposed budget general fund expenditures by department from Kenneth Hogge Sr 

FY18 info we were forced to requested from Mr. Fedors

Fy2018 proposed budget gf & capital expenditure line item including exte. pdf from Kenneth Hogge Sr 

Email conversation about FY17 budget

03/20/16 at 11:57 AM

To Board of Supervisors

Board Members,

I and others find Mr. Fedors' budget proposal and last response disturbing for a number of reasons and hope the majority of you do as well. Foremost, Mr. Fedors' budget process does not appear to include transparency; as the Code of Virginia requires the People to be presented information at the same time as the governing body. (Unless otherwise exempted by FOIA) Mr. Fedors' budget process does not appear to include an acceptable level of transparency which has led to restricting the People from data that is necessary to evaluate how their tax dollars are being spent.

I will not say much more at this time as I understand Mr. Fedors' is new to the government game. On the other hand, his staff certainly are not. One would hope they would guide their new boss in a better direction.

Respectfully,

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Fedors, Brent" bfedors@gloucesterva.info

To: Kenny
Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2016 10:41 AM
Subject: Re: 2017 Budget

Mr. Hogge -

While we are not planning to add that level of detail to the proposed budget book for FY17, we are preparing a supplemental information piece for Board Members that does.

I will make sure you get a copy when it is ready - likely Tuesday.

Brent

On Mar 17, 2016, at 9:22 AM, Kenny wrote:

Brent,

We are looking for a proposed budget document that contains at least as much information as the 2016 budget proposal which can be found at:  http://www.gloucesterva.info/Portals/0/finance/documents/FY16%20County%20Administrator's%20Proposed%20Budget.pdf?ver=2015-03-05-090048-737

A "general fund expenditure budget" as presented in the 2016 proposal is one example of the expanded data we would like to continue to see and are hoping the Supervisors are already assessing as they process the FY17 proposal. 

Kenny 

From: "Fedors, Brent" <bfedors@gloucesterva.info>

To: Kenny
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 12:37 PM
Subject: Re: 2017 Budget

Mr. Hogge -

The 2017 Budget Book provided to Board Members is the same as can be found at the following link: http://gloucesterva.info/Portals/0/finance/documents/FY17%20Proposed%20Budget%20and%20FY17%20Proposed%20Capital%20Budget.pdf?ver=2016-03-11-154752-740

There are also copies of the book available for public review at both libraries and in the County Administration office.

Please let me know if there are specific questions you have that I may be able to address - I'm glad to help in any way I can.

Brent

On Mar 16, 2016, at 9:55 AM, Kenny wrote:

Hello Mr. Fedors,

I would like to get a copy of the "2017 Budget Book" that has been provided to the Supervisors. The information posted on the County's website is not detailed enough for the People to do any sort of analysis of what is being proposed.

Thank you sir,

Email conversation about FY18 budget data

Tinsley, Stephanie <stinsley@gloucesterva.info>

Mar 20 at 11:15 AM

To Kenny

CC Lewis, Christi , Fedors, Brent

Message body

Good Morning Mr. Hogge,

 Attached is the information as requested.

 1^st tab – General Fund by Expenditure Line Item

2^nd tab – Provides information on the Total Transfers Out line item from the General Fund

3^rd tab – Capital Projects

4^th tab – External Agencies Funding Request and what is included in the Proposed Budget

Please let me know if you have questions or need anything further.

Thanks,

Stephanie

From: Fedors, Brent
Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2017 2:06 PM
To: Kenny
Cc: Tinsley, Stephanie <stinsley@gloucesterva.info>; Lewis, Christi <clewis@gloucesterva.info>
Subject: Re: FY18 Budget Info Request

Mr. Hogge -

I am forwarding this to Ms. Tinsley who will coordinate our response.

Thank you for your inquiry,

Brent

On Mar 19, 2017, at 9:51 AM, Kenny wrote:

Hello Mr. Fedors,

Hope this finds you in good health and spirits.

Can I get a copy of the proposed FY18 line item budget and proposed capital improvement expenditures? If possible; I would also like something that reflects the name of all external agencies/nongovernmental organizations that are requesting FY18 funding and how much each is asking for. Electronic copies are preferred.

Thank you,

Kenny

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Gloucester, VA: Can We Trust The School Board? Failed Utopia

Can we trust the school board?  You may need to watch this video several times over and really listen to what John Hutchinson is actually saying and not what you may think he may be saying because when you first hear him you are likely to get the wrong message.  John Hutchinson appears to be addressing the issue of a Homeland Security audit.  On the one had he is.  On the other hand, it's not anywhere near as comprehensive as you may have been led to believe.  It's a very clever tactic used to send you the wrong information and making you think that the School Board has done everything in their power to ensure the safety of the students, teachers and staff.  We are going to show you that this may not be the case and give you the proper tools to figure it out for yourself.  Let's start with a video on body language.
  

Now let's go back to the joint meeting between the school board and the board of supervisors.  Let's discuss John Hutchinson's location of his hands when he was talking about the Homeland Security evaluation.  His one hand was in his pocket.  If you will also look again at how his head was dodging back and forth, he did not appear to be actually looking at anyone but instead below the level of anyone before him.  What did you just see in the video here on body language?  I am not suggesting he was lying.  I am suggesting that he may have been trying to pull the wool over the eyes of everyone listening.  Again, listen to what John Hutchinson says.  The security evaluation was a transportation evaluation.

  That means John Hutchinson was talking about the security for the bus system where Gloucester received high marks and why John did not want to get into specifics is because that would have revealed the slight of hand he just pulled in our opinion.  That is a trust issue.

  So does Page Middle school meet Homeland Security guidelines for safety?  Is there such a thing as guidelines for safety from Homeland Security?  Yes there are actual guidelines for safety and we have those guidelines and we are going to share them with everyone here reading this.  You can make up your own mind after doing the proper research whether or not the school board has done due diligence in ensuring the safety of the students.  The guidelines are 317 pages long and very comprehensive and well done.  It's a very impressive document.  At the end of the book is a checklist that you can take with you and conduct your own evaluation.  What we see is failure after failure after failure here to meet most of those guidelines.

  What will they argue back on this?  The Homeland Security guidelines are just that.  Guidelines.  As we understand how the federal government works, if they are mandatory, then the federal government would have to fund each project.  So guidelines are setup instead allowing states and localities to determine what the priorities should be.

Homeland Security Building Recommendations 

So above is the Homeland Security guidelines for schools.  Look through it and learn what those guidelines are and then take a copy of the checklist to Page Middle school and see how it stacks up.  We can tell you that one local resident pounded on the school board about these issues and even provided the school board with the exact information above before Page Middle school was constructed.  The School Board ignored these recommendations and that you can easily prove to yourself.

  To make it easier for you we have made a separate checklist that you can download for free from our slideshare site.  It's the same checklist as in the above Homeland Security book we just made it easier to print out for you because we want you to see all of this for yourself.

Homeland Security Building Design Recommendations Checklist 

We apologize for the annoying auto play of the Bos, School Board, meeting video as it is out of our control and the default option from the county that can not be changed even though it shows as an option.  We did not choose the auto play option which means it's supposed to be off.  Technical difficulties the county needs to address.  This is only one area in that video from the BoS/School Board where we have a lot of issues.  More stories coming very soon.

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Gloucester, VA BoS Member, Chris Huston, Violating State Code? Conflict of Interests?

On Tuesday night, May 20, 2014, Gloucester County, Virginia Supervisor Christopher A. “Chris” Hutson voted to approve the Terrapin Cove Sewer project.  Part of the project entails installing public sewer along Laurel Drive at Gloucester Point.  The vote was 4 in favor of the project and 3 against it.

The following information was obtained from the Gloucester County website and is for property on Laurel drive that is owned by the parents of Hope Hutson.  Hope Hutson is the wife of Gloucester Supervisor Christopher Hutson and the property is where Mrs. Hutson grew up. 

Mr. Hutson should have abstained from voting on anything to do with the Terrapin Cove sewer project from our view.

General Property Information:

Owner Information:

Property Owner: THE BREEDEN TRUST

Owner Address:

PO BOX 122

GLOUCESTER POINT, VA 23062

RPC #: 32740

Property Information:

Legal Description: RIVERDALE SUBD SEC C

Total Land Area: 0.383

Physical Location:

1672 LAUREL DR

Magisterial District: Gloucester Point

Tax Map #: 051C 5 C 5

  

Details:

Building 1  $129,400.00   

Other Improvements:  $13,800.00   

Land Value:  $53,000.00   

Total Value:  $196,200.00

Our Notes:  How many other board members were aware that Mr Hutson has personal interests in this area?  Did Mr Hutson ask certain other BoS members for favors to get the above passed in his favor?  What must Mr Huston vote on that he might be against in the future that he will be forced to change his vote on in order to return any favors?  Is this one of the tests that we talked about yesterday on why certain people are in public service?  Did Mr Hutson just show us that he is in Public Service for his own personal interests and personal gain?  We actually have more information on that that helps to answer this question and some big surprises are coming up about Mr Hutson's background.

  In the mean time, we recommend that the BoS consult an outside source competent attorney that can explain to them the meanings of conflict of interest.  Ted seems to have a history that would suggest he just covers those up.

Save Edge Hill Service Station? Gloucester, VA, More Information

We have continued to dig up information on this site and oh what we have found.  In a past article we pointed out that we had heard that this property had sold for over four hundred thousand dollars.  That did not make sense since the building on the county tax map shows it's value to include it's present value at under one hundred thousand dollars.  Well it turns out that this property is a combination of 3 lots.  The car wash is part of that ownership and where the real price came into play.

  So Fairfield owns a for profit business.  Now from everything we have been able to see so far, even though Fairfield owns the car wash, it looks like they may have subleased the business out to someone else.  It's interesting that you have never read this in the local news anywhere.  But here are the backup facts straight from the county.

Fairfield Edgehill Texaco Station Info, Gloucester, VA from Chuck Thompson

If the information proves tough to read, you can blow the above into full screen mode.

Why this property was divided up the way it was does not make sense.  At least the sale price of the property now makes more sense.  But wait, it gets even more interesting.  Gloucester County officials, after Fairfield bought this property, submitted this property to VDOT for a special preservation grant.  Why did the county do this for Fairfield?  Not only that, but the grant was approved.  Don't take our word for it, we got the evidence straight from VDOT themselves.  A copy of the email is below.

Our records indicate that an award was made to Gloucester County for this project in June, 2012 in the amount of $384,000.  Realize however that this is a reimbursable program and no funds are awarded up-front.  Funds must be expended and then a request made for reimbursement.  For further details regarding the Transportation Enhancement – now the Transportation Alternatives – Program and past allocations, please see our website atwww.virginiagot.org/business/prenhancegrants.asp .

 

Thank you,

 

Pam Liston

Wow, all Fairfield has to do now is sucker people in to produce the matching funds and they have a windfall business free and clear.  Why they are not using any of the profits from their car wash business is a question we have.

  There has been a lot of interest in keeping this corner tied up.  Now in all fairness it does have a viable but probably a very poorly performing business on this corner lot.  The service station itself, as we have shown has no real historical value.  So why is the corner lot of such great concern?  Oh, it's coming.  But not just yet.  We have a lot more.  Keep an eye on the areas we told you are eyed for future development.  Therein lies the master key in our opinion.  And does this have anything to do with the new Page Middle School?  Remember that question.  It may just have something to do with keeping traffic tied up on the 17/14 corner during rush hours and forcing new road construction through certain properties, located close to TC Walker school, who's ownership may prove revealing.  It's amazing how things start to tie together.

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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 School Board, Board Policies Questions

Armand A. Fusco, Ed.D.

About the Yankee Institute for Public Policy

The Yankee Institute for Public Policy, Inc. is a nonpartisan educational and research organization
founded more than two decades ago. Today, the Yankee Institute’s mission is to “promote
economic opportunity through lower taxes and new ideas for better government in Connecticut.


Part 2 in a 10 part series.

Question 2: Board Policies

Are there any board policies dealing with school corruption? What policies, if
any, have been adopted to prevent corruption, and what policies have been
adopted to monitor school resources most effectively?

Background: Board policies are contained in a policy manual that is a
public document, and it can usually be found on the school website. The
manual is also available in the school central office and in each school. It is
extremely doubtful that any corruption policies will be found, because school
boards do not want the term “corruption” to be found in any school documents;
they are in complete denial or ignorant that corruption could occur in the
district. Even when corruption is found, it is hidden from public view whenever
possible. For example, in the Roslyn incident, the school board voted to keep
the theft from their insurance company; and this deceit cost them thousands of
dollars more.

Admittedly, part of the problem is that school boards are not trained and
educated about the problem of corruption, and state departments of education
and their own association are derelict, even fearful, of providing such training
and education.

However, examining board policies is a critical task for any taxpayer
group or FAC to undertake because it will indicate whether the board has any
concern about preventing school resources from being mismanaged and
protected from corruption. Failure to have such policy statements would be an
unequivocal indication that the board is either in denial or ignorant about the
nature and extent of school corruption; furthermore, it is also a green light for
corrupt acts to be committed.

Proposed Solution: Demand that the school board adopt policies and
practices that clearly manage resources more effectively, and that give the staff
and taxpayers clear evidence that preventing corrupt acts has the highest
priority. Demand too that school employees be trained to act responsibly and
honestly with school resources. Unfortunately, such education and training is
hard to find. School Corruption: Betrayal of Children and the Public Trust  5
provides information and guidelines for any district to become more

responsible with school resources.

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Gloucester, VA School Information You Didn't Know

Page Middle School was slated for potential demolition months before a tornado came through and took care of the issue for the county.

  The Gloucester, VA school board had already submitted proposals to replace the then present Page Middle School to the Gloucester, VA Board of Supervisors in September, 2010.  The tornado didn't take out the school until Saturday, April 16th, 2011 or 7 months later.  The estimated costs that the school board proposed to the county board of supervisors?  Nearly 70 million dollars for a new Page Middle School construction.  Makes the now present 26 million look cheap.  In fact, here is what is really strange.  Renovations to Page were also looked at and the stated figures, unjustified, were over 22 million dollars for repairs and upgrades.  Again, we state, unjustified estimates.

  What is very disturbing is the more we dig into the background of what is going on, we are not getting answers to a lot of questions, we are getting even more disturbing questions.  Expected capital expenditures for 2013 as calculated back in 2010 was nearly 6 million dollars for new roofs, HVAC and buses.  Guess what though, 2014 already had more  HVAC repairs and buses replacements calculated at another near 6 million dollars.  2015, 5.5 million dollars and 2016?  Near 9 million dollars for HVAC replacements.  Does this mean we need more bonds?

  So why are we funding HVAC replacements with bonds?  When you look at the 2010 capital replacement plan for 2012 through 2016, there was nothing budgeted for TC Walker school.  So it looks like the TC Walker school was already Slated for closing back during that period and was already a long range goal.  Just so you can see these figures for yourself, we have made that report available below.

Gloucester, VA September 2010 BOS-SB Meeting from Chuck Thompson

You can open this report up to full screen view by left clicking the icon at the far bottom right hand side of the Slideshare container above.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8PKB4B3Z5-kZ1MtTlh2RUxFNFU/edit?usp=sharing
The above link is another way to view the Cross Board of Supervisors and School Board meeting information from September 21st, 2010.  You can also download copies from either location.  Gloucester County has had the land where the new Page Middle School is slated to be built since 2004.
http://prd.gloucesterva.info/property.asp?RECNUM=41530&DWELL=1  Tax map and ownership records.  Shows that the Gloucester, County School Board has had this land since November, 2004.

http://www.wavy.com/news/local/three-die-in-gloucester-tornado  Link to WAVY TV10 story on tornado taking out the school in April, 2011.

  More to come.

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