Remarks to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors: January 24, 2023

My name is Bill Wright and I live in Gainesville. 

During her recent State of the County address, Chair Wheeler touted the county’s adoption of a collective bargaining ordinance, allowing employees to negotiate over terms and conditions of their employment.  However, on the same day she claimed credit for expanding advocacy for county employees, she concurrently proposed to curtail the rights of self-expression for the rest of the county’s residents.  In a January 10^th memo, Chair Wheeler put forward several recommendations for limiting public comment at these meetings.

Accompanying a January 12^th Inside NOVA article on the subject (Changes upcoming for public comment at Prince William board meetings? | Headlines | insidenova.com) were several uniformly negative online comments on these proposals, much like the ones Chair Wheeler prefers not to hear during Board meetings.

It is no secret that public comment has been a source of consternation for the BOCS.  Chair Wheeler bemoans the tedium of enduring the public’s urgency to be heard, stating that public input is interrupting the county’s business.

Let’s remind everyone that you are representatives serving at the pleasure of the electorate and listening to the public IS the county’s business. Ironically, it is Chair Wheeler’s contentious policies and aversion to transparency that are the impetus for the public outcry she is trying to stifle. The public is desperately trying to tell you you’re on the wrong track through whatever means they can muster. Chair Wheeler proposes to reduce both the means and the messengers so BOCS meetings can more closely resemble an echo chamber that reaffirms her troubled agenda.

Is it a coincidence that the timing of these recommendations to be more efficient coincide with an upcoming hearing on the contentious Devlin Technology Park proposal?  This was the one that was deferred when it was packaged as a Comprehensive Plan Amendment (Amid residents' protests, 'Devlin Technology Park' data centers on hold for now, developer says | News | princewilliamtimes.com), then snuck in like a burglar with a stealthy land use map change as part of the railroaded “Pathway to 2040” (Among other 'Pathway to 2040' adjustments, county supervisors replan Devlin Technology Park for new data centers | News | princewilliamtimes.com).

Virginia’s motto, “Sic Semper Tyrannis” translates as “thus always to tyrants”.  It means tyrannical leaders will inevitably be overthrown.

It might take a few months, but Chair Wheeler will get a hard lesson when the voices that might have influenced her turn into the votes that will replace her.