Excited and humbled: Carolyn Bragg appointed interim South River district supervisor
VERONA — The Augusta County Board of Supervisors is finally back to full strength after appointing former supervisor Carolyn Bragg to the interim South River district seat Wednesday evening. Bragg was selected over James Kindig and Randall Wolf after an almost two-hour interview session
While the board recognized and appreciated Wolf's and Kindig's remarks in the interview, they leaned in favor of Bragg's experience. Bragg is planning on running in November's election to fill the same seat.
“As a former supervisor for South River, Ms. Bragg is uniquely qualified to represent the people in that community well and to do so immediately. She can hit the ground running.” chairperson Mike Shull said in a press release from the county.
Bragg represented the South River district from 2014 to 2019, and served on the planning commission starting in 2020. But this version of the district will look a little different than the one Bragg is used to, as district boundaries were redrawn in 2021.
"I have an idea, but I need to go and I need to meet people and knock on doors and adjust the vision of the South River district a little bit. I’m looking forward to doing that," Bragg said.
The interview process was a smooth one until supervisor Jeff Slaven motioned to enter a closed session on the candidates. That took supervisors Pam Carter and Scott Seaton aback, as they were under the impression that the decision would not be made until time was given for residents to provide feedback on the interviews.
What ensued was a lengthy discussion about what process the board had voted on two weeks prior during their meeting. The board eventually decided to watch back the meeting where they decided on the process after they emerged from closed session. Upon playback, it was discovered that while the board did vote on a procedure, there was no official motion for it.
These kinds of contentious exchanges are not uncommon in local government, and Bragg appreciated that there were some questions about the process. But the disagreement, in and of itself, wasn't a bad thing to Bragg.
“If everybody agreed, then there would be no use to have seven people," Bragg said while laughing.
She believes that compromise and respect are important elements of the board, even through disagreements.
"We talk a lot about listening to our constituents, but truly on the board, we need to listen to each other and understand our point of view and where we’re coming from," Bragg said.
With the interviews behind her, Bragg has very little time to waste. The board is expected to vote on the fiscal year 2024 budget next week, and she has to get up to speed.
"I have attended the budget workshop, I did that. And I’ve actually already come back in another time just to go back and look through some certain pages I had questions about. But I truly need to set up times to talk to staff and to get some more information about some of the figures and the numbers," Bragg said.
Among the budget issues that Bragg wants to learn about is the proposed one-cent increase on the real estate tax rate and the associated move to fund body and dashboard cameras for the Augusta County Sheriff's Office. She wants to speak with the sheriff to learn more about the cameras.
"I never think it's a good idea to vote on something you don't understand," Bragg said.
Part of her quest for information will involve listening sessions with the community. In an act of forward thinking, Bragg tentatively booked a space at the Stuarts Draft Library to have listening sessions with residents about their thoughts on the real estate tax increase and how that money will be spent. Those are expected to be on Saturday, April 22 and Tuesday, April 25.
It's part of what Bragg believes she brings to the table for residents. She said that she was always willing to listen and work with residents to address issues, and would continue to pursue her community service and volunteering activities outside of the board room.
The other big item on the board's to-do list is an update to the comprehensive plan. That's a familiar topic for Bragg, having served on both the board and planning commission for nearly a decade.
She wants to revisit the planned land use throughout the county to adjust where development may or may not be able to occur based on current infrastructure or the ability to build out new utilities. She also wants to explore more mixed-use zoning, citing Weyers Cave as an example of a good usage of land.
"It’s making decisions with public input that preserve rural areas and provides for responsible growth," Bragg said.
Supervisor Gerald Garber also mentioned a tremendous outpouring of community support for Bragg's candidacy. Bragg knew some messages were sent, but she was awed by how many different parts of the community supported her.
"I am grateful. I am humbled. It really makes me want to work harder because they believe in me, so I need to truly truly make every effort to do the best I can for them.”
Live coverage of interviews: Blog: Augusta County Board of Supervisors interviewing three candidates for board vacancy
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—Akhil Ganesh is the Government Reporter at The News Leader. You can contact him at aganesh@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @akhildoesthings.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Excited and humbled: Carolyn Bragg appointed interim South River district supervisor
