Questions for Board of Supervisor Candidates, Accomack County

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Respondent:  Grayson Chesser, District: 3 Date: 8/12/07 1. In your opinion, what are the top three problems for the county? A. We need to change our thinking to reflect a new reality. It is not 1950 anymore. B. Lack of proper planning. C. Failure of people in government in general to view the county a whole. 2. Why are these problems? A. . If you are so stuck in the past, you can’t evaluate what’s happening and you can’t make good decisions. Not much happened for many years around here. B. We are always reacting instead of being proactive. This causes a waste of resources and money and it is dangerous to the health and welfare in certain situations. C. This leads to inefficient government. Fragmented interests leads to not having the most qualified people in positions to make decisions and an inefficient use of limited County assets. 3. What would you do about them if elected to the Board of Supervisors? A. This is a slow educational process. We are starting, and have come a long way. We are starting to look around us and see what others have done and we are starting to learn (hopefully) from their mistakes and successes. We need to look at what other Counties have done and what the State will allow. B. I would work to get good people in responsible positions that understand the importance of planning and are willing to think ahead. C. I would advocate the countywide appointment of the best-qualified people. 4. What do you think about water in the county – Storm water, Ground water, seawater, bay water? Water is a big problem. On ground water: the upper aquifer is contaminated with Nitrogen and the lower aquifer recharges at a lower rate than the aggregate numbers make us believe. There are cones of depression around the large withdrawals – Cape Charles, Chincoteague, Wallops, Perdue, and so on. The development already on the books could cause a real problem. Agriculture is the biggest user but also our biggest industry. Agriculture should be encouraged to use the shallow aquifer, not deep wells. We need much better planning for water resources. On Runoff: we have a golden opportunity. The Bay side has the Chesapeake Bay Act. On the seaside, we (the County) control this entire watershed. If we protect it, aquaculture could be a tremendous asset – we could be one of the richest rural counties again if we manage the seaside right. Fin fish – like cobia – will dwarf clams and oysters but will require good seaside water and control of waste. Sea level rise is a fact. The 1833 hurricane washed completely over Chincoteague. Green Run, Wallops, Franklin City, Hog and Cobb Islands have been abandoned. Belinda, Marsh Market, Massongo, and the causeway at Saxis will drown. We need planning that will not put people in harms way. 5. What do you think of the recent (June, 2007) report on the Accomack County Public Safety System? Everyone needs to read the report and then to re-read it with an open mind. They have identified a lot of real problems that we need to do something about. A good start is to do more to recruit and retain volunteers. It takes a lot of time to train to be a volunteer. We need standard practices and procedures and accountability. Somebody has to be in charge of the overall system to have countywide cooperation. If we ever have a real disaster – a category 3 to 5 hurricane direct hit – it will be unbelievable. Real coordination is needed. We need to face the fact that there are not many places that are harder to evacuate that the Eastern Shore. More fire and rescue assets should be moved above the storm surge. Each department should keep its personality, but they should be integrated into the whole system. If you have questions or comments or would like to respond please click here.