Landes should withdraw courthouse bill

What's worse? A legislator who introduces a bill that would overrule an overwhelming voter mandate, or one who claims ignorance when the legislation he introduces would do just that?

Whichever way you answer, the legislator in question is Del. R. Steven Landes, R-Weyers Cave, who introduced HB 2192 on Jan. 11. The upshot of the bill, if enacted, would be to allow Augusta County to build a new courthouse without voter approval so long as it remains somewhere in the city of Staunton — anywhere in Staunton — at any cost, abandoning the historic downtown courthouse that voters thought they were preserving when they turned down a referendum to move the county seat in November. The voters who spoke so clearly would get no more say in the matter.

The two-year fight over the fate of the courthouse actually had been brewing for years, as Augusta County continued to build its center of power in Verona while allowing the historic courthouse, the formal county seat, to sink further and further into disrepair. It certainly seemed that supervisors hoped the building would slip beyond the point of redemption as a courthouse.

We blame much of the decay — in attitudes and real estate — on a fundamental misunderstanding of how we're tied together as a region. Augusta County officials grew to believe the county fails to benefit from a strong Staunton. Or more accurately, they fail to see that Augusta County can only be strong if Staunton is strong. Independent cities, which are unique to Virginia, set up an either/or mentality that fundamentally misunderstands the meaning of community and the responsibility we have to one another.

Beyond Landes, no one is claiming credit for this bill. We can't tell if this is something he cooked up by himself. No one is fessing up. It inserts one sentence in the law that requires a vote before a county seat is moved from an independent city.

In the case of a county courthouse located in a city, the relocation or expansion of the courthouse to any other location within such city is not such a removal as to require authorization by the electorate.

Perhaps it was, as he says, just a way of giving the county options. Perhaps someone in county government wanted a Plan B so that they'd have a threat to carry to the table when they negotiate a shared courts agreement with the City of Staunton. Or perhaps it's in service of someone who would disregard voters and build a new courthouse somewhere close to the original planned courthouse site in Verona, but just within the city limits. The Green Hills Industrial Park comes to mind.

But to do that would render the vote of the citizens moot. Voters didn’t say they wanted the county seat to be somewhere within Staunton. They voted first and foremost not to spend money on an entirely new courthouse and perhaps put schools or public safety as higher priorities. With their vote, they fully expected to retain the current courthouse and give it the upgrades it needs.

If Landes continues on this path, he will do it at his own political peril.

If any supervisor were to use this as a way to dodge the will of the voters, likewise.

When voters in Augusta County and nationally were speaking so loudly in November against politics as usual and the political swamp, it takes an amazing level of gall to turn around now and try to ramrod through what you were denied at the polls. We cannot imagine any circumstance which would make this an intelligent idea.

Landes should withdraw the bill immediately.

Our View represents the opinion of the newspaper's editorial board: Roger Watson, president; David Fritz, executive editor; and William Ramsey, news director.