Rappahannock News eEdition

Van Carney and David Konick

MEET THE CANDIDATES FOR BOARD OF SUPERVISORS STONEWALL HAWTHORNE DISTRICT

By Julia Shanahan

Sperryville brewery owner and Rappahannock County native Van Carney is running for a seat on the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors to represent the Stonewall-Hawthorne district, saying that he’s wanted to help lead the county since he was a kid.

“My vision for the county is when my kids are my age, I want them to be able to look out here and basically see the same thing that I see. And I think that's doable, and it's worth doing,” Carney said.

Carney has been running Pen Druid Brewing with his two brothers since 2015 — named after his grandparents’ farm located on the Thornton River, just a few miles from the brewery. Carney and his brothers also play in a rock band and have toured across Europe and Canada.

“Being here, doing what we're doing, building our business here, having our children here — like we couldn't be more all in, there's no possible way,” Carney said.

He said that because he has a small business and a family in Rappahannock, he is well connected with the community, and that would serve him well on the Board of Supervisors.

Carney graduated from George Mason University with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and currently lives in Woodville with his wife and three kids. He has a six-year-old son and three-year-old twin boys.

He said that since he grew up in the county, he has the institutional knowledge of how it has changed over the decades.

“I feel like that is one of my strong suits, and that's how I could benefit,” Carney said. “You know, being on the board is knowing where the county has been ... And then having a guiding vision for the future.”

HOW SHOULD RAPPAHANNOCK APPROACH ITS FUTURE?

Carney said that he intends to keep the county “rural and open,” and that the answer to attracting more families to permanently live in the county is to expand broadband.

“It's something that I've always wanted to do since I was a kid, this place is worth saving,” Carney said. “There are places on this planet that are worth not developing. But what does that mean? Well, it means that if you look at the surrounding counties, and you can see what they look like in terms of how they've developed — we don't need to do that.”

Carney said that moving the county to the 21st century and expanding broadband connectivity will not change the visual aesthetic of the county. He said he thinks that universal broadband will increase enrollment in the county’s public schools and allow more families to move to the county and work from home.

“But when we start having connectivity, I believe we'll have more families, more people permanently living out here,” Carney said. “I think they'll put more kids in our schools. And I think it will provide for more volunteers for fire and rescue.”

Carney also said that the county should look into creating comprehensive plans for each of its villages to look at the individual needs of each town. He said this could be done by hiring professional planners and getting public input as to how the future of each village should look.

Carney said he wants to maintain the county’s strict zoning ordinances in order to preserve the scenic nature of the county.

HOW TO ADDRESS LACK OF UNIVERSAL BROADBAND?

Carney said that he thinks the Board of Supervisors made a “fantastic” decision in moving forward with their agreement with All Points Broadband to dramatically expand broadband in the county.

All Points Broadband and Rappahannock County entered into a regional agreement with seven other counties to try and secure state funding through the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI) to help carry out the project.

If the project received a VATI grant and the county decides to lock itself into the agreement, then the county will have to contribute $5.9 million.

Carney said that the last thing residents need as we recover from the pandemic is for their taxes to go up, and that the county needs “to do 110% to make sure that the taxpayers of this county are not burdened at all for broadband.”

“I think that is a very, very good possibility that we can absolutely find the other funding that's going to be required to put towards [broadband], and I do not think that the county residents will see an enhanced tax burden,” Carney said.

The county will be able to use funds from federal COVID-19 stimulus grants, as well as money from the Rappahannock County Public Schools and a $3.5 million donation from resident Chuck Akre.

WHERE TO ALLOCATE STIMULUS FUNDS?

Carney said that the county’s fire and rescue operations should receive some of the stimulus money since they’ve been having fundraising difficulties because of the pandemic.

Carney acknowledged that the county Water and Sewer Authority has requested some of the funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to make repairs to sump pumps in Sperryville, and he said that broadband expansion should receive funds as well.

WHY SHOULD VOTERS ELECT YOU?

Carney said voters should elect him because he will listen and work with people in his district in a productive way and bring people together to solve whatever issues are at hand.

“I believe that Rappahannock is not unlike an island,” Carney said. “Islands have physical boundaries that create constraints. And we, through our zoning ordinances, have created constraints that have protected this place.”

He said that having a family business in the county puts his future squarely in the hands of Rappahannock, and that being a small business owner has kept him connected to the community.

He added that running a business with his two brothers has taught him a lot about having to reach a consensus to make decisions, especially about money.

“I'm a native — I don't have anywhere else to go home to,” he said. “And I just can't express how important it is to me for Rappahannock to continue down that path of preserving itself, while staying relevant.”

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2021-09-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

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