Supervisors set for busy meeting with three public hearings; Mineral Town Council reverses course on Hempstead's ouster; Mineral looks for new mayor
Engage Louisa is a nonpartisan newsletter that keeps folks informed about Louisa County government. We believe our community is stronger and our government serves us better when we increase transparency, accessibility, and engagement.
This week in county government: public meetings, Jan. 20 through Jan. 25
For the latest information on county meetings including public meetings of boards, commissions, authorities, work groups, and internal county committees, click here. (Note: Louisa County occasionally schedules internal committee/work group meetings after publication time. Check the county’s website for the most updated information).
Tuesday, January 21
Louisa County Board of Supervisors, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. The board will convene for closed session at 5 pm. (meeting materials, livestream)
Thursday, January 23
Lake Anna Advisory Committee, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. At publication time, a meeting agenda wasn't publicly available.
Other meetings/events
Tuesday, January 21
Louisa Town Council, Louisa Town Hall, 212 Fredericksburg Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. (agenda packet)
Mineral Town Council Town Hall, Mineral Town Hall, 312 Mineral Ave., Mineral, 6:30 pm. (agenda)
Additional information about Louisa County’s upcoming public meetings is available here.
Interested in taking your talents to one of the county’s numerous boards and commissions? Find out more here including which boards have vacancies and how to apply.
Quote of the week
“I expect all of you at this table to issue a public apology to the residents of Mineral for your abominable, illegal, tyrannical behavior.”
—Mineral Town Council Member David Hempstead to his fellow council members regarding their effort to oust him using a process that didn’t follow provisions in state code.
Read more about the chaos surrounding the Mineral Town Council in the article below.
Supervisors set for busy meeting
With county offices closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Louisa County Board of Supervisors will convene on Tuesday night with a busy agenda, including three public hearings, on tap. Beyond the public hearings, supervisors will take up several items initially scheduled for consideration at their first January meeting. They’ll also kick off the Fiscal Year 2026 budget process and more.
Board to kick off Fiscal Year 2026 budget process
Though Fiscal Year 2025 just passed its midway point, the board will kick off the FY26 budget process on Tuesday night with an initial discussion of the county’s spending plan. FY26 starts July 1, 2025 and runs through June 30, 2026.
Finance Director Wanda Colvin is expected to provide the board with a broad overview of where county finances stand halfway through the fiscal year and how that financial picture impacts both the operating and capital budget for the coming year.
Though the meeting materials include limited information about the budget, the county has released its draft FY26-FY45 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), a 20-year forecast for spending on tangible, long-lasting and high-value items like new fire trucks, school buildings and infrastructure projects. The draft, which doesn’t account for County Administrator Christian Goodwin’s recommendations, includes more than $20 million in spending requests for FY26 and about $129 million over the next five years.
Supervisors will take a deeper dive into the budget at their first budget work session on February 3 at 3 pm prior to their regular meeting. Learn more about the FY26 budget process here.
Board to discuss ‘Workgroup and Committee Expectations’ and ‘Retail Sales of Controlled Substances’
Aside from the FY26 budget, the board’s agenda includes two discussion items: “Workgroup and Committee Expectations” and “Retail Sales of Controlled Substances.” The meeting materials don’t include any additional information about either item.
With respect to the former, the board routinely forms internal committees and workgroups that tackle public business outside of supervisors’ bimonthly meetings.
The committees and workgroups often include two board members and staff and occasionally involve citizen representatives. They’re generally tasked with recommending changes to county ordinances and policies or otherwise providing advice to the board.
Under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act (VFOIA), committees, subcommittees or workgroups, formed to advise a governing body or to perform other delegated functions, are required to hold publicly advertised meetings that are open to the community.
Still, the board’s heavy reliance on ad-hoc committees that handle public business outside of regular meetings—often convening during the day with limited notice—has sparked concern among some community members.
The author of this newsletter has repeatedly pushed county officials to ensure that committee and workgroup meetings are properly advertised, per the provisions in VFOIA, and encouraged robust discussion of committee recommendations during regular board meetings.
At a recent planning commission meeting, Louisa District Commissioner Matt Kersey also voiced concerns about transparency. Kersey said that he didn’t like the idea of two-person committees drafting ordinance and policy changes with little public discussion or community input.
“It is with great disdain that I see other [matters] of the county discussed in the backroom and not much out for the public to get some transparency,” Kersey said. “I have no problem with discussing the issues out for the public to hear—and certainly they are sensitive issues, many of them—but we need to have the discussions out in the public so people understand, so they are brought along with us because these things have long-term implications.”
Board to continue push for more state support to combat Harmful Algal Blooms
Supervisors are again advocating for more state support to combat Harmful Algal Blooms on Lake Anna.
Composed of cyanobacteria that can be detrimental to human health and harmful to wildlife and pets, the blooms have become a persistent problem at the lake in recent years, prompting the Virginia Department of Health to issue no swim advisories for parts of its upper reaches every summer since 2018. In 2022 and 2024, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) named the lake to its list of impaired waterways due to the blooms.
Supervisors have repeatedly sounded the alarm about the issue, arguing that Lake Anna is an economic engine, drawing thousands of tourists annually and generating millions of dollars in tax revenue. They’ve warned that the blooms’ persistence could impact tourism, hurt the local economy and threaten the long-term health of the lake.
On Tuesday, the board is set to greenlight a resolution—and a pair of draft letters to the General Assembly—supporting proposed amendments to the biennial state budget that would fund ongoing HAB mitigation efforts at the lake as well as monitoring and testing in inland waterways.
Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, a high-ranking member of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee whose district includes a slice of western Louisa County, and Delegate Buddy Fowler, R-Hanover, who represents most of the county in the House of Delegates, are both carrying budget amendments in their respective chambers, which would pull $1 million from the state’s General Fund “to continue support for cyanobacteria mitigation and remediation at Lake Anna.”
In its draft letter, the board says that the funding would allow stakeholders to continue a multi-year project aimed a mitigating and remediating the blooms. The state allocated $1 million for the effort in an amendment to the state budget two years ago and another $500,000 in last year’s biennial budget. But, as adopted, the two-year spending plan doesn’t include any money for the program in its second year.
The Lake Anna Advisory Committee (LAAC), a inter-jurisdictional panel including Louisa, Spotsylvania and Orange counties, is using the funding to pay for the inaugural year of its Lake Anna Cyanobacteria Mitigation and Remediation Program (LACMRP), a multi-year effort to reduce excess phosphorus in two of the lake’s upper branches. Excess phosphorus, which can come from runoff from agriculture and development, among other sources, serves as a key food source for the blooms.
“The intervention measures being implemented at Lake Anna using state funding appropriated in fiscal years 2024 and 2025 are working but a steady level of state funding is required to continue our efforts. The Senate and House budget amendments were introduced to bring the funding level back to the fiscal year 2024 budget level to allow for continued progress of our mitigation efforts,” the board’s draft letter says.
To address funding for testing and monitoring, Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, is carrying a budget amendment for $250,000. The amendment would direct DEQ, in coordination with the Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services, “to provide testing of inland waterways” for the presence HAB, “which may include enumeration of cyanobacteria and associated toxicity analyses."
Currently, the state has no funding specifically dedicated to monitoring and analyzing HAB in fresh water.
“It is an alarming fact that there currently is no state funding allocated for fresh water [cyanobacteria Harmful Algal Bloom] cHAB monitoring and analysis by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. The impact of this budget shortfall is far-reaching, affecting DEQ’s ability to monitor Virginia’s waterways for bacteria that can cause serious health effects in humans, pets, and aquatic wildlife,” the board’s draft letter says.
Aside from pushing the General Assembly to deliver more aid via amendments to the state budget, supervisors are also expected to express formal support for $1 million in state grant funding aimed at addressing nutrients that feed the blooms.
EutroPHIX, a private contractor that’s working with LAAC as part of its remediation and mitigation program, is applying for the funding through DEQ’s pilot “Pay For Outcomes” program, which focuses on nutrient reduction in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
In a draft letter to the department, the board says that EutroPHIX’s application “initiates a public-private partnership focused on the environmental issues caused by cyanobacteria Harmful Algal Blooms (cHABs) that have been experienced at Lake Anna since 2018.”
“We are confident that the technical approach offered by the EutroPHIX team will result in nutrient reductions in the Lake Anna sediment, thereby reducing the flow of nutrients to the Chesapeake Bay and reducing the food/energy source for the cyanobacteria that cause the cHABs we have seen over the past seven years,” the letter says.
Board to consider appropriating nearly $46,000 for tourism-related initiatives
After delaying action at their weather-hampered January 7 meeting, supervisors will consider awarding $45,699 in tourism grants to two prominent organizations that routinely draw visitors to the county.
Pending board approval, the Louisa County Fair will receive an amount not to exceed $26,699 while the Louisa County Historical Society will get an amount not to exceed $19,000.
The fair, an annual summer event at Mineral’s Walton Park, would be permitted to spend $20,000 on musical acts and $6,699 on advertising and marketing. The latter money would work in concert with a grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation, ensuring at least $10,000 for advertising and marketing efforts.
The historical society would receive $12,000 for the integration of maps and tours into Louisa County’s tourism app; $6,000 for visitor center signage at the Sargeant Museum in the Town of Louisa; and $1,000 for an all-weather outdoor brochure/map kiosk. The kiosk project is contingent upon "further evaluation of compatibility with existing infrastructure,” according to the proposed resolution.
The funding is part of the “Tourism Partnership Grants” program, a new county initiative aimed at supporting tourism and economic development. The program relies on revenue from the county’s transient occupancy tax, a levy that’s tacked on to visitors’ tab when they stay the night at a hotel, bed and breakfast or short-term rental.
The board hiked the tax from two percent to seven percent in 2023. Under state law, about 40 percent of the revenue generated by the tax must be used for tourism-related initiatives.
Local organizations and other entities may apply for grant funding for tourism-related projects. The county’s Tourism Advisory Committee, a collection of 13 residents with ties to the local tourism industry, reviews each application then makes a recommendation to the board of supervisors on whether a proposal is worthy of county support.
According to a memo from Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon, the Louisa County Fair initially applied for $149,788 for an event plan centered on bringing a high-profile musical act to the fair. The organization planned to spend $40,000 on attracting a “main act,” $20,000 on stage production costs and roughly $25,000 on infrastructure upgrades, including updates to the Walton Park stage and its electrical system. The historical society requested $42,760 including more than $8,300 to open the Sargeant Museum on Saturdays.
The committee recommended only partially funding the organizations’ proposals, tapping 27 percent of the nearly $169,000 allocated for Tourism Partnership Grants, according to Coon’s memo. That leaves about $122,000 for future initiatives.
The board will also consider greenlighting the use of a Memorandum of Understanding, which any organization receiving tourism grant funding would be required adhere to. Coon says in his memo that the MOU “aims to obtain tourism data that can be used to enhance and benefit tourism-related activities in Louisa County.”
Parks and Rec Advisory Committee to update board
Supervisors will get an update from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee. The board was initially expected to hear the update at its first January meeting but postponed it until Tuesday night.
The committee, which includes a board-appointed representative from each of the county’s seven voting districts as well as several county officials, is tasked with advising the county on matters related to the Parks and Recreation Department, including its programming and facilities.
The committee typically plays a low-key role, but it sparked controversy at a recent board meeting when Amy Ware, the Jackson District’s representative, expressed concern that the board was considering tapping the department’s capital reserves and a park maintenance fund to help pay for a pair of turf fields adjacent to Louisa County Middle School. The fields were initially expected to cost $3.6 million, but their price tag soared to $6.33 million, more than 75 percent over budget.
“We’ve been trying to be good stewards of our county tax dollars by saving funds for years, and we’ve finally gotten to the point where we can accomplish some of these projects, and it looks like from the presentation I saw that the overrun is coming from those line items,” Ware said during a public hearing.
Ware noted that the committee has been planning for an indoor pool, sports complex and skatepark and emphasized the need for improvements to local parks.
The board had set aside $2.2 million in the department’s capital reserves over the last several years with $1.2 million explicitly earmarked for an indoor aquatic center. It proposed pulling a million dollars from the fund to help pay for the fields and nearly $460,000 from the parks’ maintenance fund.
In response to Ware’s concerns, supervisors opted not to tap the maintenance fund to help pay for the fields and instead draw additional funding from the county’s general fund. But they stuck with their plan to pull a million dollars from the department’s capital reserves.
Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams told Ware that the $1.2 million for the pool would still be in the fund. But he said it barely scratches the surface of what the facility would cost.
Williams also said that the board needed better communication from Ware’s committee, apparently prompting Tuesday night’s presentation.
In the preliminary FY26 to FY45 Capital Improvement Plan, Parks and Rec Director James Smith requests funding for all three of the committee’s big-ticket priorities. In the coming fiscal year, Smith asked for $175,000 for the skatepark. He also requested $2 million each for an indoor aquatic center with a junior Olympic size pool and a rec center with space for pickleball, basketball, volleyball, exercise classes and more.
Smith proposes adding another $2 million in FY27 and $3 million in FY28 to fully fund the pool, estimating the facility would cost about $8.2 million. He’s asking for $3 million in FY27 and $6.5 million in FY28 for the rec center, projecting it would cost $11.5 million.
Smith says that all three facilities are needed to meet community needs, noting the county’s population has doubled since the Betty Queen Center was built in the early 2000s.
Smith told the planning commission at a January work session that he only has a location for the skatepark. The facility would be built adjacent to the Betty Queen Center, the site of an old skatepark that was demolished about a decade ago.
The board of supervisors will begin discussing the FY26 budget on Tuesday night.
Supes to consider Bowood Barn’s request for revised CUP
The board will hold a public hearing and vote on whether to approve Bowood Barn and its owner Mary Bland’s request that the county revise and renew a conditional use permit (CUP) first issued in 2016, which allows the operation of a bed and breakfast with outdoor gatherings at 500 Tisdale Road in the Patrick Henry Election District. The facility is situated on 32.55 acres (tax map parcel 39-26), zoned for agricultural use (A-1, A-2).
The tweaked CUP would allow Bowood Barn to continue operating a bed and breakfast and tack on special occasion facility as an additional use. It would also make minor changes to several of the CUP’s conditions, most notably allowing the facility to host one event a year—the Louisa County High School prom—with up to 600 attendees. Otherwise, a maximum of 250 people are permitted at events, and the facility can hold no more than 25 “special occasion” events per year.
In its report, Louisa County Community Development Department staff recommends approval of the CUP and notes that the use conforms with the primary goals of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan: preserving the county’s rural character and beautifying its gateways and roadways.
“Land devoted to agriculture and forestry activities are major contributors to Louisa County’s economy. This property maintains rural values and character through agricultural operations, scenic quality, and minimal disturbance to existing vegetation,” staff writes.
Staff recommends approval of the CUP with 15 conditions including limits on the number of special events and event guests. The conditions also require the applicant to maintain an existing vegetative buffer included in a 2017 site plan and bar activities associated with the event venue from taking place in the buffer immediately adjacent to adjoining parcels; limit noise to 70 decibels at the property line except between 8 pm and 10 pm when its capped at 80 decibels; and require the applicant to post at least three signs along the driveway that say “DRIVE SLOWLY” or “SPEED LIMIT 10 MPH.”
The planning commission at its November meeting voted 5-0 to recommend that the board of supervisors approve the CUP.
Board to consider request to rezone commercial property for agricultural use
Supervisors will hold a public hearing and consider whether to approve Robert and Stacy Fuller’s request to rezone, from General Commercial (C-2 GAOD) to General Agricultural (A-2 GAOD), 3.7 acres at 991 Courthouse Road (Route 208) in the Patrick Henry Election District (tax map parcel 67-3-2).
The Fullers plan to establish an agricultural operation behind their home, including a large garden, a row of fruit trees, a chicken coop with a maximum of 20 birds, ducks, fish and, potentially, goats. They also plan to build a barn on the property.
The parcel is less than a half mile from the Ferncliff exit off Interstate 64 in the Ferncliff Growth Area Overlay District (GAOD). It’s designated for mixed-used development on the Future Land Use Map in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. Agricultural activity isn’t permitted by-right on commercially zoned properties in the county’s GAODs, prompting the Fullers’ request.
“I want to be able to get up in the morning and, if I want to feed ducks, I can feed ducks. If I want to have some koi in a pond, if I want to have some chickens because I want to have eggs every morning and I want to have some healthy eating from raised beds then I would like to very much do that, and I can’t in C-2 [zoning] I’ve found out. So, here we are over a garden, essentially, and a duck pond,” Robert Fuller said during the planning commission’s public hearing in December.
Fuller said that he grew up on a farm in Louisa County before joining the Marine Corps, and he’s lived on the subject property since he came back to the county in 2009. He suggested that he wants to return to his roots by growing his own food, adding that he believes the small farming operation would be beneficial to his health.
“I’d like to have a hobby greater than just watching TV all day…so this is going to give me something to do, but it’s also going to provide me with a better diet,” he said.
Other than the applicant, no one spoke for or against the request during the commission’s public hearing.
Community Development Department staff said in its report that the proposed use fits with the character of the neighborhood and wouldn’t impact county services. Staff also determined that the rezoning conforms with the Comprehensive Plan.
“The adjoining parcels in this area are zoned agricultural and commercial and remain largely undeveloped and vacant. Staff believes the Ferncliff Growth Area will experience future industrial and residential growth as utilities become available. Therefore, rezoning the subject property from General Commercial (C-2) to Agricultural (A-2) [will] have little effect on the character of the surrounding area and will follow the 2040 Plan Mixed Use designation,” staff wrote.
The planning commission voted 5-0-1 to recommend that the board of supervisors greenlight the request. Patrick Henry District Commissioner Ellis Quarles abstained, citing his interest in a neighboring parcel. Jackson District Commissioner Troy Painting was absent.
Staff to update board on ‘gateway signage concepts’
After postponing the item at their January 7 meeting, supervisors will get an update on “gateway signage concepts.” The meeting materials don’t include any additional information about the item.
The board at its December 2 meeting briefly discussed sprucing up the county’s gateways to make them more welcoming.
Several supervisors suggested that county officials start by replacing outdated signs at major entry points. Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones called a sign near the county line in her district “faded and ragged” and said she believed the county could “do better.” Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams noted that neighboring Hanover County features the famed Hanover tomato on signs along major thoroughfares and Louisa should consider designing signs that highlight what it has to offer.
Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon responded that staff’s been working on a “comprehensive sign plan,” including designing new signs and identifying appropriate locations for the signage. Coon said that more information would be forthcoming.
In a January 11 Facebook post, Cuckoo District Supervisor Chris McCotter suggested that he’s working on his own Lake Anna-specific sign, which he wants to put in the middle of the new roundabout at Wares Crossroads.
“I am also adamant that now that the Wares Crossroad roundabout is complete, we get Welcome to Lake Anna, Louisa County signage in it. Now of course VDOT told us no, no, no, nothing can go in the roundabout but then they planted trees in it,” McCotter wrote. “I am working with a local person to create a sign that welcomes our visitors and will make us proud of this gateway to our community. I will not take no for [an] answer from VDOT on this. It is something that will make Wares Crossroads a true gateway to the lake.”
Board to consider tweaks to Land Development Regulations
Supervisors will hold a public hearing and consider approval of a handful of amendments to the county’s Land Development Regulations (LDR).
Community Development Department staff say the changes are necessary “to address discrepancies, clarify regulations, ensure alignment with more stringent State and Federal regulations, update standards to reflect current practices, and make adjustments based on community needs and the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.” In addition, the proposed amendments are intended “to improve the efficiency of the Zoning and Subdivision Ordinances and to better serve the community by removing conflicts and outdated provisions.”
Most notably, the amendments would prohibit new residential uses in commercial zoning; exempt from setback regulations in all zoning districts specific improvements including retaining walls for commercial projects and walkway structures that cross property lines onto Dominion Shoreland adjoining Lake Anna; and codify the unwritten method for calculating the distance between over-water structures when determining the required width of a travel way.
The board at its first January meeting approved another set of tweaks to the LDR. Community Development Director Linda Buckler described those amendments as “phase one” of staff’s cleanup of the zoning code. She said more proposed amendments would be forthcoming.
Board to greenlight request for split precinct waiver
Supervisors will consider a resolution that allows the county to formally request from the State Board of Elections (BOE) a waiver to administer a split precinct for the November 4 general election. The waiver is necessary because one residence in the Mountain Road 1 precinct is in the 56th House of Delegates District while the remainder of the precinct is in the 59th House District.
To simplify election administration, the General Assembly in 2019 passed legislation requiring that precincts be wholly contained in larger state and federal legislative districts. Under state law, precincts are also required to have at least 100 registered voters. Localities must obtain a waiver from the BOE to administer a split precinct in cases where the population threshold isn‘t met.
Mineral Town Council reverses course on Hempstead’s ouster; Town looks for interim mayor
The Mineral Town Council on Monday night reversed course on its ouster of Council Member David Hempstead. (video)
The move ended—at least for now—a legally-fraught battle over Hempstead’s status as a council member, restoring him to a body that he apparently never left.
Council voted to remove Hempstead on November 21 after a 75-minute closed-door trial, accusing him of misuse of office, misconduct of office and multiple violations of the town’s code and council’s civility pledge.
The trial came just two weeks after Hempstead finished second in a special election to fill two council seats and a little over a month after council voted to censure him, alleging, in part, that he’d mistreated town staff. Prior to earning voters’ backing, Hempstead served as an appointed council member for about six months.
In ousting Hempstead, council relied on a disciplinary process laid out in Robert’s Rules of Order, the parliamentary procedure that governs how the body conducts meetings. That process differs from provisions in state code, which require a voter-initiated recall petition and action by a circuit court judge to remove a local elected official.
Still, town leaders insisted they had the power to expel a sitting council member. Pointing to advice from their legal counsel, Robert J. Sproul of Harrison & Johnston, a Northern Virginia-based firm, they contended that provisions in the town’s charter and ordinances gave them that authority.
Through it all, Hempstead maintained that council hadn’t followed the law, repeatedly insisting he was still a council member. He made that argument in dramatic fashion at council’s Dec. 19 meeting where he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for refusing to leave when council tried to convene in closed session.
“They can’t ask me to leave because I am a member of council,” Hempstead told a Louisa County Sheriff’s Deputy before he was handcuffed and escorted out of the meeting.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Rusty McGuire subsequently dropped the charge. In a statement, McGuire said council didn’t follow state code in its effort to expel Hempstead.
“The Code of Virginia provides a specific process for voters to initiate the removal of an elected official in a court of the Commonwealth. After consulting Mineral Town Council that was not done in this case,” McGuire said. “We immediately dropped the charge placed against Mr. Hempstead as we cannot let the criminal justice system be weaponized in Louisa County. The deputy was placed in a difficult position being told Mr. Hempstead was no longer a member of council and was trespassing.”
After McGuire weighed in, council cancelled a December 30 meeting to appoint a town resident to fill Hempstead’s seat on an interim basis.
The town didn’t include a reconsideration of Hempstead’s ouster on the advertised agenda for Monday’s meeting. Council Member Ron Chapman, who’s temporarily acting as mayor, introduced a resolution to rescind “Resolution 2024-14” prior to adopting the agenda, but never specified what that resolution did. The resolution before council, which Chapman read, said only that council “wishes to rescind Resolution 2024-14 in its entirety” and “strives to work together as an elected body without disruptive, nonproductive behavior.”
All five council members in attendance—Chapman, Hempstead, Michelle Covert, Olivia McCarthy and Becky McGehee—voted for the resolution. Council Member Bernice Kube was absent.
Last week, Hempstead’s name, picture and contact information were restored to council’s page on the town’s website.
After the vote, Chapman said that he hoped town leaders could move forward in a spirit of cooperation for the benefit of the town.
“I want to remind the public and the council that we are here to perform the business of the town, so we want to make sure we are maintaining some decorum and some professionalism in the way that we present our concerns and our issues with council. We are all here because we care about the Town of Mineral. I have spoken with each member of council in the last several weeks individually about restoring that commitment and passion to our town and the people of our town,” Chapman said.
Hempstead also made a brief statement, reiterating that the effort to remove him ran afoul of state law and contending that council’s vote to censure him in mid-October and curtail some of his powers as a council member was also illegal.
“These are serious violations, and the consequences of these actions are far from over. I strongly suggest that you get a better understanding of how to govern…” Hempstead said.
“I expect all of you at this table to issue a public apology to the residents of Mineral for your abominable, illegal, tyrannical behavior,” he added.
Council advertises mayoral vacancy
Beyond the controversy surrounding Hempstead’s seat, the Town of Mineral is looking for a new mayor.
Ed Jarvis, who was elected mayor in November 2022, resigned on January 3. After spending eight years managing the Louisa County Airport, Jarvis announced at council’s December 9 meeting that he was leaving that job—and the mayor’s office—to run a larger airport in Louisiana.
Per state law, council has 45 days from the date of Jarvis’ resignation to appoint a qualified voter from the town as interim mayor. The appointee will serve until a special election to fill the remainder of Jarvis’ term, which runs through 2026. If council fails to make an appointment, a circuit court judge is authorized to choose someone for the position.
Council agreed on Monday to begin the search for Jarvis’ replacement.
Qualified voters interested in filling the vacancy have until February 3 at 2 pm to submit a letter of interest and resume to Town Clerk Stephanie Dorman (more information).
Council will convene on Feb. 3 at 6:30 pm to announce the candidates under consideration. The body is set to appoint an interim mayor at its regular monthly meeting on Feb. 10 at 6:30 pm.
Mineral’s Town Charter grants the mayor limited power. Per the charter, the mayor is tasked with running council meetings but only votes if there’s a tie. The charter also provides that the mayor “shall be recognized as the head of the Town government for all ceremonial purposes, for the purposes of military law and for the service of civil processes.”
Pending circuit court approval, the office of mayor will be on the ballot this November as part of a special election. The council seat currently occupied by Olivia McCarthy will also be up for grabs in a special election in November.
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