Letter to the Editor: Says Charles City chairman refuses to answer questions

A full year has passed since chairman of Charles City’s Board of Supervisors Byron Adkins Sr. has answered a question from the public. Rather than face the public, Mr. Adkins hides behind the rule that supervisors do not respond to questions at their public meetings. Nor has he appeared in any other forum where the public could ask for answers.

The following are some of the public’s questions which have gone unanswered:

How did the board so badly overspend its income during Mr. Adkins’ leadership that we needed to borrow $5 million last August to continue operating? Where did that money go? What plan does he have to pay off this debt?

How does this year’s budget, which continues the same level of overspending, make sense? Why does Charles City spend 40 percent of its tax revenue on administrative costs (roughly two times more than comparable counties?)

Why did we pay $422,000 in severance to the former county administrator, who was responsible along with the board for this financial disaster?

How does the board justify selling a data center site valued at over $1 million dollars to a connected individual without a competitive bidding or even an assessment of the value of the property?

How does Mr. Adkins justify his public endorsement of the rent-free 50-year lease of the Charles City Neighborhood Facility Building without letting it be known that his niece benefitted from this sweet-heart deal?

Why are we rushing into long-term deals with sophisticated data center developers without acquiring competence to understand the deals and to be able to effectively negotiate?

Finally, how does he justify remaining at the head of the county government, given his apparent inability to handle the responsibility and the public’s utter loss of faith in him?

Rob Tyler
Charles City