[1:59] Mhm.

[3:54] » Mhm.

[5:49] » Mhm.

[6:54] » meeting to order. We have an agenda before us. Are there

[6:59] any additions or deletions? Hearing none, we'll move forward. Uh

[7:05] old business, the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors will discuss and consider

[7:11] a appoint the appointment of a new county administrator.

[7:17] Um I guess I will kick this off.

[7:22] Um over

[7:25] several months, the county has interviewed

[7:28] many uh

[7:31] prospective county administrators. I was authorized by this board to

[7:38] go negotiate uh with uh

[7:41] Thomas Hudock relative to a potential contract.

[7:46] Um and that was subject to

[7:50] uh other components uh background checks, reference checks,

[7:55] etc. All of which have been performed. Uh I also went and spent time

[8:01] in Greene County uh where Mr. Hutka is currently employed.

[8:07] And through the process have a

[8:12] proposed contract uh and at a very high-level the

[8:17] it's $220,000 with a start date of September 1st.

[8:24] Uh that's where we are and what would we

[8:27] like to discuss?

[8:32] » Mr. Chairman, if I could lead off. We had talked briefly on [clears throat]

[8:36] Friday. And based off of the uh

[8:41] interview that we had with Mr. Hutka on Tuesday

[8:45] the 1st of the month.

[8:48] I was still pushed towards one of the previous candidates that we had. That

[8:53] » Yes, sir. I'm aware. >> And I was I was very much I was very

[8:57] adamant about sticking with that decision.

[9:00] And then after we had talked I had made the comment before that I was

[9:04] not going to be supporting any extension of the current interim county

[9:08] administrator's term past September. >> Yes, sir. You were.

[9:11] » That being the case, I feel that the county

[9:14] is between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

[9:18] Mr. Hutka, his credentials are you're not going to find any better.

[9:25] We look at a um a Harvard uh

[9:28] Princeton graduate, civil engineer.

[9:33] But after we had talked on Friday,

[9:37] you we were discussing the pay. And I thought that this meeting

[9:42] we were going to get back together. We were going to go back in the room and

[9:44] possibly have another interview with Mr. Hutcheson.

[9:48] To talk about the pay, the contract. Then I find out

[9:53] that and we had a number discussed when we

[9:55] left the meeting that you were going to present. I guess that didn't work.

[9:59] And then I find out about the additional benefits that we're going to be throwing

[10:04] to Mr. Hutcheson. That puts that over the top

[10:09] um range for that position. Essentially, it'd be about $250,000 a

[10:14] year by the time you figure the 220, the uh $1,000 a month donation to ICMA,

[10:22] $500 a month auto,

[10:25] and then a $15,000 moving fee. Now, I I just I like to know one,

[10:30] is this something we've done for previous county administrators when we

[10:33] talk about auto uh a a car expense and and

[10:39] and paying into these other funds? I mean, is this Or is this

[10:43] » That's that's a good question. As far as I am aware,

[10:47] we have never contributed to ICMA. And the reason that I say that is I can't

[10:55] find evidence of it. Now, there's a member of this board

[10:58] who worked in a previous county uh who had it contributed, and other adjoining

[11:03] counties, including Orange, have done so. And it is common to

[11:09] have in many cases automobiles. When I go down to the Valley Link meetings,

[11:14] where we get together the members, the chairmans, and talk,

[11:19] most of the county administrators are showing up in a car that was provided by

[11:23] the county. And these are counties to the south of us, not to the north and

[11:27] east. Uh so,

[11:30] it No, we as far as I know, we have not. >> And that's it. I mean, we go to we go to

[11:36] conferences to Vaco or whatever the case may be to to legislative day. We either

[11:40] take the county van or we're compensated based off of the mileage on our own

[11:44] vehicle for going to these things. It just seems like since first of the year,

[11:48] again, >> This contract, by the way, does allow

[11:51] for that at the option of the board. >> I fully understand that. But again, I

[11:53] just want to go back to the prices that were the the the dollar values that were

[11:58] were assigning to these positions based off of

[12:02] this new board. I I I have a hard time just wrapping my

[12:06] head around this. I mean, we have spent I would like to get a number on how much

[12:10] money we have spent since first of the year based

[12:13] off previous years when it comes to salaries and studies and audits and

[12:20] and it's not really I can't see where it's it's produced any fruit. And I'm

[12:23] going to go back to the urgency that we get in and here we

[12:27] are having an open open session discussion on a on a prospective county

[12:33] administrator. And again, I guess if if we're going to

[12:36] get right to the chase, I'm just going to put it out there the way I truly feel

[12:40] about this is one, I would have I'm still going to go back. I'm not going to

[12:44] support this motion this morning. I'm going to

[12:46] I'm never going to reserve give up my right to change my mind at

[12:50] the last minute. And the more I go back and look at this

[12:53] and there's questions from uh

[12:56] you know, why has this uh Mr. Hutcheson moved from from one job to

[13:00] another and and be short >> Would you please this is for

[13:04] » And and you know, one or two years and to your point, I've reached out. I've

[13:08] talked to uh the chairman of Green County. I

[13:11] talked to uh one employee in Green County and I I

[13:16] I kind of came to the conclusion that that was an axe to grind. But the more I

[13:19] delved into this thing, I don't know that that was an axe to grind. I don't

[13:21] know how much of a people person this new

[13:25] this new applicant [clears throat] is and I'll be honest with you, I think the

[13:28] most outside of his credentials with with his

[13:32] degrees, I think this county right now needs

[13:35] somebody who can

[13:38] work with their employees, who can put out there a a sense of stability at

[13:45] the upper management level. Um we need someone who has a knowledge

[13:49] of how this finance answers you know, what the problems are

[13:53] with the county. And and that said, our current interim county administrator

[13:57] has reached had reached out to Captain Deal to help with the with the finances

[14:01] on the payroll. So I think we're overlooking

[14:03] » Would you please >> we're overlooking

[14:07] a very good applicant because this board

[14:12] they made a decision in January and they

[14:16] don't want to go back on that decision, whatever the case may be.

[14:19] But I don't feel just because we've got all these all these degrees behind our

[14:24] name, and again, for for Mr. McCrum to make the the

[14:27] statement yesterday, and you had told me, I mean you've got quite a few

[14:31] degrees behind your name. I mean you've gone to Vanderbilt and

[14:35] Duke and and very impressive. But to tell our county

[14:38] administrator, interim county administrator, to make a

[14:42] statement to the full uh county uh

[14:46] department heads that this Mr. Hutke is going to be our new county

[14:50] administrator, to me that tells

[14:53] with even with your your certifications, you don't quite understand how board

[14:57] governance works. That should have been brought before the

[15:00] full board before that decision was made.

[15:03] So again, to say that I'm upset with the way things have been since first the

[15:06] year and you're trying to get, you know, uh

[15:09] everybody to get along in closed session, we need to come out of here

[15:11] with a unanimous vote, I'm not going to go along with it. So just

[15:15] whatever the decision is today, I I'm not going to support this candidate.

[15:20] » Thank you.

[15:23] » Whom else? Supervisor Bates.

[15:25] » Mr. Chairman, if I may. Uh first, I'd like to thank my colleagues on the

[15:29] board. Uh and also to you, Chairman Underwood,

[15:32] for uh our uh and so our citizens know, this has been

[15:36] a long process. It's been exhaustive. It's been uh comprehensive. We've looked

[15:41] at many, many candidates. We've spent many long hours

[15:45] uh debating uh merits of different candidates. And it's been a long

[15:49] process, and we've worked hard. Uh we didn't always agree. Uh but I think

[15:53] we've worked very hard to get to a point uh where we feel confident in hiring

[15:59] somebody. I'd also like to thank Caitlin Lord. There she is, our HR director. I

[16:02] thought she did a phenomenal job of uh of uh screening applicants and and

[16:09] really making sure that we were able to interview um uh only the best uh folks

[16:15] that that with that we thought might be suitable for

[16:17] for this position. So, I just want to thank everybody

[16:21] uh for the hard work here, and um uh and respectfully to my friend and

[16:26] colleague, um Supervisor Bates, I I I do understand your concerns, and and um but

[16:32] but I I personally, speaking as one of the supervisors, think that

[16:36] uh we have a a phenomenal uh candidate um

[16:41] in Mr. Hutka. Uh I think he will make a uh an outstanding uh county

[16:46] administrator. Uh he has um uh a great realm of experience, uh

[16:53] a tremendous educational background, but I think more importantly, a tremendous

[16:57] and lengthy track record of success uh in a lengthy career all in local

[17:03] government. Okay? And um I believe that Mr. Hutka has a uh

[17:08] tremendous passion for local government, and uh and he has indicated that that

[17:14] one of the reasons that he has stayed in and government is is because this is

[17:18] where we can do the most benefit for people, for our citizens. And that's why

[17:24] we're all here today. You know, we're concerned about making sure that our

[17:27] county operates well, but that's where this gentleman is

[17:30] coming from. How can we do the most good for our citizens? You don't find that in

[17:35] all of your candidates. I want to make sure everybody knows that. Not all of

[17:39] your candidates come from a point of I have a passion for local government.

[17:44] This is what I do. I've dedicated my my life to local service. And that's what

[17:49] Mr. Hutka brings to us. So, I'm excited. Okay, I'm excited about this opportunity

[17:55] for us all. Um

[17:58] I also wanted to um uh mention to everybody that um

[18:03] uh Mr. Hutka's um concern uh and I think he will bring

[18:08] this to us and I know Supervisor Bates had had had mentioned this. Uh I believe

[18:12] that he's a team builder. Fact I I know that he's a team builder

[18:16] and that's something that we've all talked about. This is what our staff

[18:19] needs. Uh Supervisor Bates brought that up and I do think that that's something

[18:23] that he will bring uh to our county employees

[18:27] uh as we move forward. Uh so, I fully and enthusiastically support uh this

[18:33] candidate to be our next county administrator.

[18:44] » And he went out.

[18:47] » And if nobody else has any other comments, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to go

[18:50] ahead and make a motion that the board approves the

[18:53] resolution uh before us that appoints Thomas J. Hutka as the county

[18:58] administrator um effective September the 1st,

[19:02] 2026 at an annual salary of of $220,000.

[19:09] » We have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second.

[19:15] » We have a motion and a second. Further discussion?

[19:20] If there's none, uh I

[19:23] will say I share Thank you, Supervisor Lee. I share your

[19:27] thoughts very much. I believe Thomas Hudka is going to be a very good

[19:35] county administrator. I'm I

[19:40] I had not miss Mr. Hudka applied within the last 30 days.

[19:44] Uh a lot of us have done a lot of work. I'm comfortable with the work that I've

[19:49] done. As I mentioned, I went down to Green. I met with more than 10 in his

[19:54] department including uh two that worked in Culpeper, one for

[19:59] the county, one for the town. I And there are

[20:04] others. This is not uh an un I mean, you

[20:09] You don't know until people are here, but I feel that we are in the best

[20:13] possible position we can be in to relative to

[20:17] uh appointing Thomas Hudka as a

[20:21] county administrator.

[20:26] To no further discussion, we're going to do a roll

[20:30] call vote. Uh And we'll begin on the left, I guess,

[20:35] just to Supervisor Bates.

[20:39] » I. >> I.

[20:41] » I. >> I.

[20:43] » I. >> The resolution passes 5-1.

[20:48] Motion for adjournment? >> So moved.

[20:50] » We're adjourned. >> No public comment

[20:53] at all? We don't get to ask questions when you

[20:56] just spent $250,000 of our money, gave us less than 24

Special Called Culpeper County Board of Supervisors Meeting

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