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Richardson seeking first term on Highland County board
BY ANNE ADAMS • STAFF WRITER
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MONTEREY - Randy Richardson has been thinking about a run for supervisor for years. This election, he decided it was time to make a go of it. Richardson, 52, has lived here permanently for 34 years. Now, he said, it's time to get more deeply involved. "I almost (ran for supervisor) years ago, and I thought about it through several elections. I had a lot of people encourage me to do it this time," he said.
"I'm sure a lot of people think it's all in opposition to the wind (proposed utility project), but it's not. Even though that's a part of it, I really think it's time for a change. I think if anything, I think we can have a very positive influence on what's going on here. I think this community has a tremendous opportunity to do things sometimes we just don't see. We can't see the forest for the trees ... they talk about there's no jobs, there's no this, there's no that and on and on around here. I guess I have the community service bug for some reason."
Richardson said one of the reasons he decided to seek office this time is that residents have expressed frustration with the current board. "I realize the supervisors have a lot tougher job than people think," he said. "People think they are stand-offish, but there's a lot more to it .. although a lot of people have expressed to me they're not pleased with the way (they've done things) ... It's not so much the (wind) turbines themselves but the way it was handled. A lot of people feel like on the one hand, they're encouraged to participate, but on the other hand when they do get involved, they sort of get into an argument and instead of into a productive discussion about stuff. It becomes confrontational."
Land use
"When it comes to issues like planning and zoning, I don't want to see draconian measures making it impossible for you to build a chicken coop, but I think if anything this wind turbine issue is made it obvious we may not be as prepared to deal with some of these issues as we thought we were. That's the opportunity: to get ahead of it.
"To my mind, we have the opportunity to have the community we want. To lay out how we want it. And all this talk about being in dire straits and we need this and that, I think that's highly exaggerated. I don't think you'd find a county in the state of Virginia that's wouldn't want to trade our financial situation for theirs."
Remain positive
Richardson says the key to Highland's future is concentrating on the assets the county has. "We have a lot more opportunities than people believe," he said. "I think we have a great community ... we should be a big happy family and it's not ... there is a certain element to that. But I'd say it's probably a bigger, happier family than you'd find in most communities.
"All this talk about people that come here versus people that live here and so forth, we probably agree on 95 percent of the issues ... and we just look at the issues from a different angle. But in actuality, we probably don't disagree about very much. I don't think I can be the person necessarily to smooth over every problem ... but the people that moved here and the people that have lived here sit on their front porch for the same reason. I think we emphasize our differences a lot more than our similarities and it's just a shame that we allow stuff to stand in the way of what we have for our community."
Board duties
Richarson said if he were a supervisor, he would be fairly easy-going. "Things don't upset me much. I do want to listen and deliberate. I think we need to discuss a lot of these things more. I know it means we might have longer meetings and more work to do, but I do believe that an open public forum is what government is supposed to be all about," he said.
Richardson said he has no current conflicts of interest that might interfere with a supervisor role aside from his wife's teaching position and the occasional real estate client. "I'd have to recuse myself of voting on anything that has to do with voting on (teachers') salaries. But it's my understanding, (supervisors only vote on) the overall budget I think you're safe but when it comes to specific. And if I had a client before the board for any type of zoning change or something, I'd have to recuse myself from that."
Agriculture counts
"Some meetings you feel (supervisors) are doing everything for the farmers, or they're doing everything for one group or another group and they're not looking at the community as a whole. When it comes to tax relief for farmers, I certainly would hope we can come up with something to help farmers, but not at the expense of putting it on little old ladies on a fixed income and Social Security. To me, that's not a solution - to shift the burden from one group that can't pay to another group that can't pay. Hopefully there's something else," he said. "I'm one of those odd people - my father's from Bath and my mother's from Highland, and I grew up in Charlottesville. So I'm a native but I'm not a native. I've sold real estate, I'm probably as responsible for bringing all these other folks in here as anyone, and so I see both sides of it. I hear the local side and I hear the 'come-here' side. And that's why I think they're not that far apart in their opinions."
Though he's not a farmer himself, Richardson says he has great empathy for Highland's farming community. "I know they have a very tough job. And I know they face kind of a catch 22: the tremendous value in their asset, the farm, but its return on your investment is also very low. The problem is that the way to get your money out of it is often to sell, and they don't want to sell. I don't want them in a position where they have to sell. Although I can say, in my 25 years in the real estate business, I've never had a farmer come to me and say, 'I'm selling because I can't pay my taxes.' They some how manage to do that. But I do think the county has a part to play in doing what they can to promote agriculture, to help farmers. I'd love to see some sort of land use plan to help farmers. I just don't want to see that burden placed on older folks to accomplish it," he said.
"Obviously the more assets you have, the more taxes you pay, so it's a complicated problem. All these problems didn't occur overnight; we're not going to find answers overnight. But I do think we need to explore a whole lot more opportunities.
"There are a few farmers you never hear complaining. I don't know what they do differently than the others, but maybe we ought to take a look at what they're doing."
Local economy
"Taxes are always going to be an issue here," Richardson said. "They are everywhere, not just here. I don't think you'll find communities in the world where people think their taxes are too low. Seems to be a natural human response that taxes are too high. But I do think it's a big issue and I do realize people are struggling with that. But again, I don't think you can shift the burden of taxation from one group to another and solve your problem. The way our county is set up at the moment, if we had some development, some growth, I think the possibility opens opportunities to do more things. It may be worth taking a look at how other counties in other parts of the country are dealing with these problems."
Richardson emphasizes Highland County had more going for it than meets the eye. "We have some things here that a lot of communities would love to have (like) all this access to the Internet. We can attract people who can work from their homes. I think we have a lot going for us in that regard," he said. "The unemployment rate around here is miniscule. The last time I saw it, it was less than 2 percent. Underemployment? That's a whole other issue. I think there are a lot of people around here that are under-employed who make a wage it's very difficult to live off. I think there are opportunities though. There are a lot of people who would love to live here if they could figure out a way to do it."
Richardson is no fan of higher taxes, however. "I'm not going to sit here and advocate higher taxes, but there may be areas here you're not taxing. Consider the meal and lodging tax. Pocahontas just raised theirs to 6 percent ... I don't want to make it harder on any of these folks but again, other communities are taxing people on all these things. I don't want to make it more difficult for local businessmen or farmers or anyone else but we're certainly getting by without a whole lot of the taxes people are paying in other places, and it's probably worth taking a look at them. They may or may not suit us but I don't know that we always collect all the sales tax on stuff that goes out of this county that we should. I don't know that the way we do assessments is as good as it could be," he said. "I know a lot of communities (where) if you buy a piece of property, your tax assessment is changed immediately. Not when they do the next assessment, but that afternoon. I think it's a hard argument for those who pay $150,000 and then it's not assessed at $150,000 - shouldn't they be paying taxes on that? They overlook that sometimes."
Richardson says his position on finding other revenue sources may not be popular, but that under the circumstances, Highland has a responsibility to explore such options. "You have to do a cost-benefit analysis," he said. "It's one thing to say you ought to implement all these taxes, but if you can only raise $10,000 and you have to hire somebody for $25,000 to do it, that's not worth the effort. I don't want to get everybody who owns a B&B around here to get mad at me, but I do know whenever I go someplace else I never think twice about paying that. It never stops me from going somewhere, or I'm not going to eat in a restaurant in Staunton because they charge you a couple percent more that goes to the city of Staunton's coffers."
Swimming pool
Richardson said he has mixed feelings about the county's proposal for a public swimming pool. "I know a fair amount about it, but not enough," he said. He pointed to the idea that if the county were to build the pool, it would remain responsible for it. "I'm not afraid to say I don't know the answer, but ... this is the county's pool built on county property ... I certainly support getting something for the kids around here ... But I don't think it's fair to let taxpayers think for a second that sooner or later somewhere down the line some of their tax dollars won't be going into this ... Federal grants are their tax dollars anyway.
As a longtime member of the Monterey Lions Club running the public pool in Monterey that was finally closed after decades of use, Richardson said he has a pretty good perspective on the benefits and costs of such an endeavor for the county. "For me personally, it came down to this: If we say we don't support this effort ... what effort are we going to support? Are we going to wait 10-12 years for someone to come up with another idea? Right now we have the opportunity to do it; should we pass that by?"
Wind energy
Richardson remains a member of Highlanders for Responsible Development, a grass roots group formed in response to the proposed wind utility in Highland, which has evolved into a non-profit organization promoting certain kinds of development here. Most recently, Richardson has been serving as the group's president.
"People have a very bad, incorrect view of what HRD stands for," he said. "We're not against everything. I've heard us called "CAVE" people (citizens against virtually everything). That's just far from true. I think we feel there are a lot of issues involved with this particular (wind energy) project that have not necessarily been thoroughly explored. Personally, to me, enough of the neighbors came into the planning meeting and said they didn't want to see it done that, in my mind, should have been the end of it right then. If you look at other issues in this county over the years, most of the time - 99 percent of the time - when most of the neighbors oppose something, you don't built it. It is a neighborhood issue at its very core.
"I consider myself an environmentalist and you get kind of a funny feeling. You oppose something that most of the country looks at as being environmentally green. I think there's a darker side to wind energy that people don't look at and I think it's wrong for us to say, Well, we're not going to let a bunch of birds and bats and critters keep us from building them."
Richardson said if this or any other project were to appear before him for a decision as a supervisor, he couldn't support granting a local permit. "They go on about Mr. McBride (Highland New Wind Development's owner) having spent all this money and I certainly feel for Mr. McBride's position. That is a lot of money he's spent, but I think you also have to say that nobody twisted his arm and made him do it."
Growth, development
Being in favor of "responsible" development, Richardson says, "does not mean you can't have subdivisions, or you can't have supermarkets, or you can't have all these things. It just means that we come up with a plan that most of the people like ... We do the best we can and we stick to it, so when somebody walks in the door up there at building and zoning office they have pretty good knowledge as to whether their plan is something that's going to work around here. I think you can go all across the country and see communities that have stability, that have a plan and stick to it, and thrive much more than communities that don't," he said.
In general, Richardson believes there are many more opportunities for Highland citizens than have been explored. "I'm willing to work and I'm willing to listen," he said. "It's going to get down to whether the voters think it's time for a change. If the voters think it's time for a change, I'm willing to step up to the plate. I'm that change. I'm not perfect, don't have answer to everything, but I do think I have new ideas," he said.
About the candidate Randy Richardson, 52 Real estate broker, 34-year resident of Highland County Long time member of Monterey Lions Club, where he's served as presdident and treasurer Member of the board of directors, Allegheny Mountain Radio On original committee reviewing comprehensive plan Member, American Red Cross board, local chapter
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