The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors is preparing to send a letter to the State Corporation Commission’s Public Utility Regulation Division opposing the Valley Link Joshua Falls to Yeat transmission line project that would run through a small portion of the county.
Approval of the letter was on the board’s consent agenda for Tuesday night’s meeting but was pulled after some supervisors attended an informational meeting on the project Monday at Ni River Middle School and left believing the communication needed to contain stronger language.
“The reason this is being pulled, quite frankly, is we have to add some more language to it in order for it to be effective,” Livingston District Supervisor Jacob Lane said. “I just want the community to know that, yes, it is a small portion of Spotsylvania County that this could be coming through.”
Lane went on to note that the land of a fifth-generation farming family could be impacted by the project, which will tie into a data center in Culpeper County, he said. Lane added that the original letter, which came from Chair Lori Hayes, parroted communication from neighboring Louisa County, but needed to be reworked.
In Hayes’ draft, she wrote to the commission that the route passes through “largely pristine rural farmland and woods” and would negatively impact residents by changing the character and landscape of the area. She requested that the route be moved to avoid Spotsylvania altogether.
“This is in the bullpen,” said Lane, using a baseball analogy. “It will be coming back.”
The board was able to approve one letter of opposition that was on the consent agenda. The supervisors are opposing a bill making its way through the General Assembly that would expand collective bargaining rights to public sector workers.
Local public sector workers have been allowed to collectively bargain since 2021 if approved by their local governments. The new legislation would eliminate the requirement for approval and expand the right to almost all local public employees.
The Spotsylvania board voted 6-0 to approve sending the letter of opposition to Richmond with Salem District Supervisor Deborah Frazier abstaining.
Frazier, the lone Democrat on the board, said she abstained because she’s “on the fence.”
“It creates a structure for conflict,” Frazier said of collective bargaining. “That is the main reason why it is called collective bargaining because there’s that potential that one side think this, and the other side thinks this, and they’re in conflict. But we need to have a mechanism that our service workers in the county can lift their voices.”
The supervisors who supported the letter of opposition said they did so because they believe County Administrator Ed Petrovich already treats employees well, and they view an order from Richmond as a costly unfunded mandate.
They’re also concerned about localities losing autonomy.
“This really is about taking away local control,” Hayes said. “A lot of what’s going on in this legislative session is about that and kind of just tying our hands on this board. So, this isn’t really a partisan issue. To some degree, it’s about local control … That is why I think, at this juncture, it’s important to let our voices be heard on this board that we want to still have that ability from this board.”
The supervisors also held a moment of silence for Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, a Spotsylvania County resident, who was among six U.S. soldiers killed in a Kuwait drone strike on March 1.
Supervisor Drew Mullins of the Courtland District noted that Marzan, 54, lived in Spotsylvania for a few years prior to his deployment and is survived by his wife, Tina, and two children.
“He served with courage, dedication and his loss is mourned by the entire nation and the county of Spotsylvania,” Mullins said … “We honor his 30 years of service, his life, and we offer our prayers and thoughts to his family and mourn with his family and friends. We ask that you remember his sacrifice as he joins the other heroes that have walked the earth here in Spotsylvania County, and his sacrifice will not be in vain.”
