Ex-state senator slams supervisors' courthouse tactics
STAUNTON - Former State Senator Frank Nolen on Tuesday condemned the tactics used by some of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors regarding the referendum to relocate the Augusta County Courthouse.
Nolen, who opposes moving the courthouse to Verona as the referendum proposes, stood in front of the building in Staunton and spoke. He said many of the supervisors are clearly trying to persuade Augusta County voters to vote "yes" on Nov. 8. He charged that they used "scare tactics" in saying that if the referendum fails, a judge can order the county to build a new courthouse anyway that's potentially more expensive and not in the best interest of county residents. Judges are able under Virginia law to require certain changes be made to services and structures associated with court business.
While the law gives Circuit Court Judge Victor Ludwig authority to require changes to the building, the law includes this sentence: "Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize a circuit court to require that an additional or replacement courthouse be constructed."
Nolen also referenced the Board of Supervisors's moratorium power to delay mandates the court might impose, which courthouse move opposition groups Augusta Citizens Coalition and Common Sense Courthouse Solutions highlighted in a press release they sent out last week. Localities like Augusta County have the authority to indefinitely postpone court-mandated updates to local court facilities from a provision that's been in the Virginia General Assembly's biennial budget since 2009.
In response to this point, Supervisor Carolyn Bragg said she and the rest of the board are aware that there's a budget moratorium in effect until 2018 and that it would allow them to delay any court-required action.
"A delay in a court-ordered action does not dissolve our legal and moral responsibility to our judicial system, nor solve problems related to safety, security, accessibility, ADA compliance, space or functionality," she said. "The needs of our courts do not disappear because we have the opportunity to delay funding a project required by the Supreme Court of Virginia. Furthermore, we do not anticipate a decrease in construction costs with the addition of time allowed for compliance."
Nolen also called it "disturbing" that the supervisors took a private poll that led them to spend at least about $13,000 in public money on brochures they sent out to select county households and for inserts in The News Leader and The News Virginian.
"That is totally uncalled for — that's not the Augusta County way and that's not the Virginia way," Nolen said. "The voters should be upset enough with that action to vote 'no.'"
Gathering on the current Augusta County Courthouse steps, Nolen was flanked by fellow courthouse move-opposers, Allen Dahl, Duane Barron, Joanie Eiland, Tom Sheets, Stuart Moffett, David Brown and Harry Fox, but no one from the Augusta County Electoral Board was present for the press conference.