Historic vote on May 6th, 2014 in the Town of Culpeper

Culpeper Star Exponent

Business Monday

February 3, 2014

Jim Charapich

Historic vote on May 6th, 2014 in the Town of Culpeper. We will no longer have May elections for the Culpeper Town Council. This is an Historic opportunity to take part in a May vote. Candidates are out getting signatures to be on the ballot for the final May election campaign. There are 4 at large seats up for election plus the Mayor. In all there are 5 seats up for election. Historically there is a low voter turnout for a May election at about 10%. In the future the Town Council elections will coincide with November elections in hopes of higher voter participation.

The Culpeper Chamber will host a Candidates Forum Breakfast on April 9th to meet the candidates and gain an understanding of their position on the issues. The Chamber is in the process of researching the issues in order to develop the best questions for the candidates. The focus of The Chamber questions will relate to our mission: To be the voice of the business community working to promote, build, and support the most effective climate for economic development.

 

Here are a few of the questions asked in the last candidates forum for the Board of Supervisors that may have relevance in the upcoming Town Council Elections:

1)  Economic Development: What new and innovative ideas do you have that haven’t been tried before and why will they work at this place in time and economic climate?

2) Economic Development: The Town and County have separately funded partial economic development agencies, one as a Department of Economic Development, and the other as a Department of Tourism with no publicly known measurements for accountability. What would you do to help create a comprehensive Town & County Economic Development strategy? How would you measure results?

Questions asked in the April 2012 Town Council Candidates Forum:

1) Taxes- Will you support the elimination of BPOL taxes considering that the Boundary Line Adjustment will produce more revenue, including through meals taxes?

2) Governance -  Considering that neighboring governing bodies have adopted ethics policies for elected officials, where do you stand on the ethics policy that the Town Council recently adopted and later retracted? What accountability standards can the taxpayer expect from you?

3) Economic Development How would you resolve blighted properties in light of foreclosure conditions and the need to preserve adjacent property values?  Would you support a property maintenance code?  Why or why not?

The Chamber is seeking input regarding the issues that are important for the upcoming May 6 election. What are the current issues?  

1) Taxes - BPOL is admittedly an unfair tax on the gross receipts of a business - will there finally be solutions proposed about this problem?

2) Taxes The Town budget has grown significantly over the past few years. Will this be an issue?

3) Economic Development The Town has set in motion the attractive relocation of the Museum, with a corresponding Town takeover of the Visitor Center operations -Is the Town run Depot Visitor Center the best ROI when there are an estimated 30,000 people traveling by Culpeper everyday on Route 29 with no Visitor Center on Route 29 to invite travelers into Town - Will this be an issue?

Please forward suggested issues to JimC@CulpeperChamber.com for the Chamber to consider for the April 9th 2014 Culpeper Candidates Town Council Forum. Plan to vote in the historic May 6th, 2014 Culpeper Town Council Elections.