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Residents urge supervisors to delay government complex contracts until after election
Summary
Two residents attending public comment urged the board to postpone signing major contracts for a proposed government complex until after the November election, citing candidate pledges to defund and concerns about rising project costs.
At the start of the Board of Supervisors’ public-comment period, two residents urged the board to delay committing to contracts or major construction for the proposed James City County municipal complex until after the Nov. 5 election.
Jay Everson told the board that two candidates in the upcoming election have pledged to defund the proposed government complex and argued it would be prudent to wait until election results are known before advancing contracts that could incur liquidated damages if reversed.
“We have an election going on, and we know one seat’s gonna be vacated and possibly another one,” Everson said. “Waiting till November 5 to see what the election results are seems to be a prudent policy going forward.”
Resident Chris Henderson told the board he attended information sessions and said the project as presented departs from earlier promises about cost and design. Henderson said initial estimates were near $94 million but said the current plan represents a larger debt burden.
“You have delivered to us a $250,000,000 debt bomb, that is going to paralyze this county for the next 20 years,” Henderson said in public comment, urging delay of action until after the election and suggesting commodity and interest rate trends could reduce costs if the county waits.
Neither comment prompted board action; they were entered into the public record during the meeting’s public-comment period. The board did not take any formal action to delay consideration of the municipal complex at this meeting.
