[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