With two longtime Stafford residents and a military retiree who chose to make the county his home, the race for the Hartwood District seat on the Board of Supervisors is a three-way contest this year.
Incumbent Republican Darrell English has two challengers: Kelly Robertson, an independent, and Marcus Oats, an independent who is endorsed by the Stafford Democratic Committee.
English — a former county planning commissioner, a longtime Stafford Sheriff’s Office employee and a life member of the Stafford Rescue Squad — said in a recent interview that he wants to continue serving his neighbors.
“Because I’ve been in public service so long, I just wanted to keep doing what I’m doing and make sure that the citizens are taken care of in Stafford,” he said. “And I feel like I do a good job of doing that, because when they call me, I answer the phone or emails, and I try to get to their problems right away.”
English said his biggest accomplishment in office is getting two new schools built in his district, Hartwood High School and Falls Run Elementary.
To support those schools, he said at a Free Press election forum in September, he would like to work hand-in-hand with Hartwood District School Board candidate Steven Epple, assuming both hopefuls get elected. Epple is endorsed by the Stafford County Republican Committee.
On data center development, perhaps the biggest issue not only in Stafford but also in the entire Fredericksburg area, English has said he wants to protect residents from the negatives that can be associated with the businesses, facilities that house computer systems used for data storage and processing. Concern over water and energy use and the potential for noise pollution are often cited by data center critics.
The supervisor also has said he would like to see a temporary moratorium on data center approvals, and he pushed to have the technology buildings be 1,500 feet away from adjacent homes. He and his colleagues didn’t end up going that far with new zoning regulations last month, but they did increase the so-called “setback” from 100 feet to 750 feet.
Of data centers, English said at the Free Press forum, “Do we need them? Yes. Do we need a lot of them? No.”
Kelly Robertson
Robertson also grew up in Stafford. She holds degrees in public administration and business administration and has logged nearly 30 years of experience in the public and private sectors, according to her campaign website.
She wrote in an email to the Free Press that she is frustrated with what she termed the “mismanaged” population growth in the county.
“I’ve often talked with family and friends about how we can do better and make Stafford work for everyone who calls it home,” she wrote. “I want to make sure the next generation of my family inherits a Stafford that’s still worth calling home. With all of that in mind, I didn’t feel like I could sit idly by and accept four more years of Stafford’s decline.”
Kelly Robertson
To support Hartwood’s new schools, Robertson said at the Free Press forum, the county needs to ensure students at those institutions have safe transportation to and from the buildings.
And on education in general, she said Stafford needs better planning and to see that the division can compete with its neighboring jurisdictions in terms of teacher pay.
Robertson also criticized the county’s government for setting what she called too low of a tax rate for data centers, at $1.25 per $100 of assessed value. That means Stafford won’t see the tax revenue other localities will, she said.
“And if they are not getting us a return on our investment, why do we want to give them our land?” she asked at the Free Press forum.
Another factor in the Hartwood race is that Robertson and her family have a $77.4 million wrongful death lawsuit against county Sheriff David Decatur and two sheriff’s deputies.
The family filed the suit last year in Stafford Circuit Court. They allege sheriff’s deputy Dominic Ferrell killed their father, 71-year-old Michael Shamrock Robertson Sr., in 2023.
Marcus Oats
Oats served in the Air Force for 26-plus years and has lived in Stafford for three years. He entered the Hartwood race after having conversations with an acquaintance more than a year ago who said he’d vote for Oats if he ever fielded a campaign for office.
The candidate said in an interview with the Free Press that he believes his military experience can translate well to local politics.
“My time in the military, you know, you make a decision, you have to effectively communicate that decision, transparently, openly, and give the background of why you came to those decisions,” he said.
Marcus Oats
And, like English, Oats said at the Free Press election forum that relationships between the Board of Supervisors and the School Board are important. He said Shannon Fingerholz, who’s running against Epple and is also endorsed by the Stafford Democrats, talked to him about working together if both are victorious.
“We need more of that,” Oats said.
On data centers, he said that Stafford should employ the balancing act of allowing the businesses in developed areas while protecting rural land and the county’s “character.”
“So I think we can do both,” he said.
Oats also argued that, while the supervisors represent districts, they should look for what’s best for the county as a whole.
“Every decision that we make, I would like to be the steady, sound hand of guided leadership and using my decades-long service to be able to be the voice of leadership and strategically set us forward for the future,” he said.
