Unprofessionalism comment appalls CC supervisors

At least two members of Charles City’s Board of Supervisors expressed displeasure in regards to comments made at an April 30 work session by Charles City School Board administration and members.

During board directives at its May 28 meeting, supervisors’ chairman Floyd Miles Sr. and District 2 representative Bill Coada addressed statements made by schools’ interim finance director David Papenfuse. Papenfuse said at the school board’s work session that supervisors failed to understand financial problems of county schools and deemed supervisors’ behavior as “unprofessional.”

Miles’ expression about the distraught comments weighed on him, as he added comments on how the board has to preserve funding for schools and other county departments as well.

Coada, on the other hand, went further into detail about the event. The District 2 representative presented fellow supervisors a time line of articles and information about the school board’s budget process. Coada specifically pointed to two articles, depicting how schools’ faced a potential shortfall of one million dollars before dwindling down to $155,000 a few weeks later.

“It’s amazing how [schools] can find that much money to cut in a short period of time,” he said. “But a few weeks later they come back to ask for more money.”

Coada continued his monologue, turning his focus to a statement made by superintendent of schools Janet Crawley.

“I don’t see how they can say that this board doesn’t support schools and that they are the lowest on the totem pole,” added the District 2 supervisor. “In comparison to school districts in similar size, we are seventh in the state [as far as counties] in the amount of money we spend per pupil.”

A visibly upset Coada continued ranting about funding for states, mentioning the counties’ school system may be taken over by the state. According to Coada, if that occurs then supervisors wouldn’t have any input on the amount of funding they receive from the state and would have to match those funds equally.

He concluded by pointing to comments made by school board member Martha Harris on travel expenses for supervisors and the county administrator. Coada said the county spent just over $8,000 last year for retreats and other travel expenses. After the meeting, Harris was confident that the $12,000 figure budgeted for supervisors’ travel was correct. Other school board members minimized comments during and after the meeting.

In other matters, supervisors unanimously approved the Charles City enterprise zone as part of the Virginia Enterprise Zone (VEZ).

Areas in Roxbury Industrial Park, Shirley Port, and near the courthouse were approved as enterprise zones to help promote business and job creation. State grants are available for qualified investors as an incentive for rehabilitation, expansion and new construction within these zones.