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Mhm.

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» Mhm.

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» Mhm.

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» meeting to order.
We have an agenda before us. Are there

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any additions or deletions?
Hearing none, we'll move forward. Uh

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old business, the Culpeper County Board
of Supervisors will discuss and consider

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a appoint the appointment of a new
county administrator.

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Um
I guess I will kick this off.

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Um
over

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several months, the county has
interviewed

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many
uh

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prospective county administrators.
I was authorized by this board to

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go negotiate uh
with uh

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Thomas Hudock relative to
a potential contract.

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Um
and that was subject to

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uh other components uh
background checks, reference checks,

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etc. All of which have been performed.
Uh I also went and spent time

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in Greene County uh where Mr. Hutka is
currently employed.

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And
through the process have a

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proposed contract uh and at a very
high-level the

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it's $220,000
with a start date of September 1st.

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Uh
that's where we are and what would we

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like to discuss?

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

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Friday.
And based off of the uh

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interview that we had with Mr. Hutka on
Tuesday

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the 1st of the month.

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I was still pushed towards one of the
previous candidates that we had. That

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» Yes, sir. I'm aware.
>> And I was I was very much I was very

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adamant about sticking with that
decision.

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And then after we had talked
I had made the comment before that I was

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not going to be supporting any extension
of the current interim county

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administrator's term past September.
>> Yes, sir. You were.

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» That being the case, I feel that the
county

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is between the proverbial rock and a
hard place.

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Mr. Hutka, his credentials are
you're not going to find any better.

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We look at a um a Harvard
uh

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Princeton
graduate, civil engineer.

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But
after we had talked on Friday,

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you we were discussing
the pay. And I thought that this meeting

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we were going to get back together. We
were going to go back in the room and

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possibly have another interview with Mr.
Hutcheson.

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To talk about
the pay, the contract. Then I find out

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that
and we had a number discussed when we

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left the meeting that you were going to
present. I guess that didn't work.

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And then I find out about the additional
benefits that we're going to be throwing

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to Mr. Hutcheson.
That puts that over the top

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um range for that position.
Essentially, it'd be about $250,000 a

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year by the time you figure the 220,
the uh $1,000 a month donation to ICMA,

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$500 a month
auto,

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and then a $15,000 moving fee. Now, I I
just I like to know one,

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is this something we've done for
previous county administrators when we

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talk about
auto uh a a car expense and and

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and paying into these other funds? I
mean, is this Or is this

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» That's that's a good question. As far as
I am aware,

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we have never contributed to ICMA. And
the reason that I say that is I can't

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find evidence of it. Now, there's a
member of this board

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who worked in a previous county uh who
had it contributed, and other adjoining

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counties, including Orange,
have done so. And it is common to

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have in many cases automobiles. When I
go down to the Valley Link meetings,

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where we get together the members, the
chairmans, and talk,

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most of the county administrators are
showing up in a car that was provided by

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the county. And these are counties to
the south of us, not to the north and

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east.
Uh so,

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it No, we as far as I know, we have not.
>> And that's it. I mean, we go to we go to

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conferences to Vaco or whatever the case
may be to to legislative day. We either

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take the county van or we're compensated
based off of the mileage on our own

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vehicle for going to these things. It
just seems like since first of the year,

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again,
>> This contract, by the way, does allow

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for that at the option of the board.
>> I fully understand that. But again, I

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just want to go back to the prices that
were the the the dollar values that were

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were assigning to these positions based
off of

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this new board.
I I I have a hard time just wrapping my

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head around this. I mean, we have spent
I would like to get a number on how much

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money we have spent since first of the
year based

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off previous years when it comes to
salaries and studies and audits and

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and it's not really I can't see where
it's it's produced any fruit. And I'm

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going to go back to
the urgency that we get in and here we

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are having an open open session
discussion on a on a prospective county

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administrator.
And again, I guess if if we're going to

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get right to the chase, I'm just going
to put it out there the way I truly feel

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about this is one, I would have I'm
still going to go back. I'm not going to

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support this motion this morning. I'm
going to

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I'm never going to reserve
give up my right to change my mind at

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the last minute.
And the more I go back and look at this

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and there's questions from
uh

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you know, why has this uh
Mr. Hutcheson moved from from one job to

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another and and be short
>> Would you please this is for

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» And and you know, one or two years and
to your point, I've reached out. I've

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talked to
uh the chairman of Green County. I

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talked to uh
one employee in Green County and I I

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I kind of came to the conclusion that
that was an axe to grind. But the more I

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delved into this thing, I don't know
that that was an axe to grind. I don't

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know how much of a people person
this new

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

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most
outside of his credentials with with his

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degrees,
I think this county right now needs

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somebody
who can

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work with their employees, who can
put out there a a sense of stability at

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the upper management level.
Um we need someone who has a knowledge

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of how this finance
answers you know, what the problems are

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with the county. And and that said,
our current interim county administrator

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has reached had reached out to Captain
Deal to help with the with the finances

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on the payroll. So I think we're
overlooking

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» Would you please
>> we're overlooking

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a very good applicant
because this board

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they
made a decision in January and they

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don't want to go back on that decision,
whatever the case may be.

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But I don't feel just because we've got
all these all these degrees behind our

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name, and again,
for for Mr. McCrum to make the the

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statement yesterday, and you had told
me, I mean you've got quite a few

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degrees behind your name.
I mean you've gone to Vanderbilt and

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Duke and and
very impressive. But to tell our county

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administrator,
interim county administrator, to make a

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statement to the full
uh county uh

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department heads that this Mr. Hutke is
going to be our new county

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administrator,
to me that tells

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with even with your your certifications,
you don't quite understand how board

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governance works.
That should have been brought before the

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full board before that decision was
made.

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So again, to say that I'm upset with the
way things have been since first the

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year and you're trying to get, you know,
uh

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everybody to get along in closed
session, we need to come out of here

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with a unanimous vote, I'm not going to
go along with it. So just

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

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» Thank you.

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» Whom else?
Supervisor Bates.

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» Mr. Chairman, if I may. Uh first, I'd
like to thank my colleagues on the

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board.
Uh and also to you, Chairman Underwood,

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for uh our uh
and so our citizens know, this has been

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a long process. It's been exhaustive.
It's been uh comprehensive. We've looked

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at many, many candidates. We've spent
many long hours

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uh debating uh merits of different
candidates. And it's been a long

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process, and we've worked hard. Uh we
didn't always agree. Uh but I think

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we've worked very hard to get to a point
uh where we feel confident in hiring

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somebody. I'd also like to thank Caitlin
Lord. There she is, our HR director. I

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thought she did a phenomenal job
of uh of uh screening applicants and and

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really making sure that we were able to
interview um uh only the best uh folks

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that that with that we thought might be
suitable for

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for this position. So, I just want to
thank everybody

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uh for the hard work here, and um
uh and respectfully to my friend and

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colleague, um Supervisor Bates, I I I do
understand your concerns, and and um but

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but I I personally, speaking as one of
the supervisors, think that

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uh we have a a phenomenal uh candidate
um

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in Mr. Hutka. Uh I think he will make a
uh an outstanding uh county

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administrator. Uh he has um
uh a great realm of experience, uh

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a tremendous educational background, but
I think more importantly, a tremendous

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and lengthy track record of success
uh in a lengthy career all in local

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government. Okay?
And um I believe that Mr. Hutka has a uh

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tremendous passion for local government,
and uh and he has indicated that that

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one of the reasons that he has stayed in
and government is is because this is

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where we can do the most benefit for
people, for our citizens. And that's why

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we're all here today. You know, we're
concerned about making sure that our

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county operates well,
but that's where this gentleman is

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

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all of your candidates. I want to make
sure everybody knows that. Not all of

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your candidates come from a point of I
have a passion for local government.

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This is what I do. I've dedicated my my
life to local service. And that's what

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Mr. Hutka brings to us. So, I'm excited.
Okay, I'm excited about this opportunity

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for us all.
Um

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I also wanted to um uh mention to
everybody that um

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uh Mr. Hutka's um
concern uh and I think he will bring

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this to us and I know Supervisor Bates
had had had mentioned this. Uh I believe

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that he's a team builder.
Fact I I know that he's a team builder

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and that's something that we've all
talked about. This is what our staff

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needs. Uh Supervisor Bates brought that
up and I do think that that's something

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that he will bring uh to our county
employees

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uh as we move forward. Uh so, I fully
and enthusiastically support uh this

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candidate to be our next county
administrator.

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» And he went out.

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» And if nobody else has any other
comments, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to go

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ahead and make
a motion that the board approves the

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resolution uh before us that appoints
Thomas J. Hutka as the county

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administrator
um effective September the 1st,

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2026 at an annual salary of of $220,000.

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» We have a motion. Is there a second?
>> Second.

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» We have a motion and a second. Further
discussion?

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If there's none, uh
I

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will say I share
Thank you, Supervisor Lee. I share your

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thoughts very much. I believe
Thomas Hudka is going to be a very good

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county administrator. I'm
I

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I had not miss Mr. Hudka applied within
the last 30 days.

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Uh a lot of us have done a lot of work.
I'm comfortable with the work that I've

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done. As I mentioned, I went down to
Green. I met with more than 10 in his

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department including
uh two that worked in Culpeper, one for

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the county, one for the town. I And
there are

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others. This is not
uh an un I mean, you

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You don't know until people are here,
but I feel that we are in the best

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possible position we can be in to
relative to

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uh
appointing Thomas Hudka as a

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county administrator.

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To no further
discussion, we're going to do a roll

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call vote. Uh
And we'll begin on the left, I guess,

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just to
Supervisor Bates.

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00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:42,640
» I.
>> I.

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» I.
>> I.

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00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:49,800
» I.
>> The resolution passes 5-1.

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00:20:48,120 --> 00:20:51,440
Motion for adjournment?
>> So moved.

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00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:54,920
» We're adjourned.
>> No public comment

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at all?
We don't get to ask questions when you

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just spent $250,000
of our money, gave us less than 24