Chris Graham Published date:July 28, 2023 | 2:36 pm
People have been telling Scott Seaton that he should have just kept his mouth shut.
Shouldn’t have made an issue of how Augusta County, Staunton and Waynesboro have been charging residents fees to get their pets out of the local animal shelter when they shouldn’t have.
Shouldn’t have kept pressing when it seemed that the county administrator, county attorney and fellow board members seemed to be slow walking the matter into oblivion.
“I would have cruised to an uncontested election,” said Seaton, whose Wayne District seat on the Augusta County Board of Supervisors is up for re-election this fall, and is the only one on the ballot featuring a challenger, a guy who told News Virginian reporter Bob Stuart last week that he’d been talked into running against Seaton by two members of the Board of Supervisors.
Seaton is also facing a formal censure by the BOS, which voted last month to approve a resolution of censure against the doctor and military veteran, but it’s since been acknowledged that the dates of the alleged misdeeds being cited as the basis for the censure – that Seaton revealed supposedly confidential information from closed sessions to the local media – were wrong in the original resolution.
The discussion of a proposed clean-up resolution at this week’s Board of Supervisors meeting turned into a comedy of errors, with board members disagreeing on how to fix the dates, and revealing other perceived slights that they have against Seaton that seem to be more the real issues motivating their effort to give him a slap on the wrist.
And then there was the comical effort to try to ask Seaton for copies of recordings that he’d made of their closed sessions that may or may not be factored into the censure issue, depending on who it is doing the talking, which was basically the majority saying, Voluntarily turn over the evidence that we need to be able to hang you.
Seaton’s response, in essence, Make me, was the perfect note for him to play in response.
As the other elected county leaders stumbled their way through what to do next with the botched censure, Seaton blistered his colleagues for trying to, in effect, silence him.
“That’s the power people in government believe they have. Instead of listening to constituents or other representatives, they try to get you fired from your job or run someone against you for your office,” Seaton said.
“The Wayne District voters did not elect me to sit by and remain silent. Though I was untested in government, they elected me hoping I would solve problems, just like I have for my patients for the last 24 years,”
Seaton said.
“I am not the problem on this board,” Seaton said. “I have been accused of not being a team player. I will assure you that I’m not here to close my eyes and coast to electoral victories. I’m not here to cover my ears and refuse to listen to the cries of county residents. I’m not here to stay silent and vote with the majority so that we can go home earlier. I’m not here to be another monkey that hears no evil, sees no evil and speaks no evil.
“I was not elected to be a ruler,” Seaton said, “but to be the intermediary between an often-oppressive bureaucracy and the people I represent, to represent their interests and not the interests of the government, and to empower people with resources that help them navigate their struggles. And when reelected, I will continue to protect their rights.”
The Augusta County Board of Supervisors voted last week to censure Wayne District Supervisor Scott Seaton, after recruiting an 84-year-old businessman to run against him in this fall’s elections.
“They convinced me they needed somebody,” John Higgs, the owner of Barren Ridge Vineyards, told News Virginian reporter Bob Stuart, for a story published online on Tuesday.
I mean, there you have it. Higgs’ late entry into the race came after a meeting with two members of the Board of Supervisors, one of whom was confirmed by Stuart to have been Butch Wells, who represents the Beverley Manor District.
Wells, last week, was among the six members of the seven-member board who voted to censure Seaton last week, citing Seaton’s admission that he has been recording the board’s closed sessions, though Seaton said there were ulterior motives to that reasoning.
Word has since gotten out in county politics circles that the board expected Seaton, when confronted with the plans of the six to censure him, would resign his seat, which would have made him the second board member to step down this year.
South River Supervisor Steven Morelli resigned his seat back in March, for reasons that have not been publicly disclosed. Something is clearly going on behind the scenes in Augusta County politics, with the Board of Supervisors pushing one member out, expecting another to follow him, and recruiting a candidate as a challenger to the one who didn’t slink away to hedge its bets.
“I have nothing against him personally. He seems to be a fine fellow,” Higgs told Stuart, referring to Seaton. “I have problems with him becoming an adversary of the board.” Seaton is clearly that. The issue he has been pressing of late has been fees assessed by the county animal shelter, which Seaton said has been done illegally, dating back decades, without language in the county code to support the practice.
Seaton has challenged County Administrator Tim Fitzgerald and the county staff to address the discrepancy, with fellow Board of Supervisors members taking the side of the staff on the matter, brushing off the concerns raised by Seaton, who claims that the illegally assessed fees total in the range of $1 million.
As for the political challenge from Higgs, well …
“I think people generally trust their physician more than their winemaker to get the message out,” Seaton coldly told Stuart, adding that Higgs would be “a yes man, and I don’t think constituents in the district want a yes man.”
Which may be true of the voters, but it’s clear what the rest of the Board of Supervisors wants..
VERONA — A closed Augusta County Board of Supervisors meeting Friday to discuss personnel evolved into questions from one county supervisor about fees charged county residents at the animal services center.
Wayne District Supervisor Scott Seaton made a lengthy statement before the closed meeting, questioning several fees charged at the Shenandoah Valley Animal Services Center. Those fees include a $15 daily impoundment fee and a pickup fee. Seaton also said the county has collected more than $60,000 in fees over the past five years that violate sections of the Virginia
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AUGUSTA COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) - Protesters began pushing for the purchase and use of body and dash cameras in Augusta County about two months ago.
Sheriff Donald Smith had said he supports the use of body cameras, but he said there are other priorities to take care of first. The Board of Supervisors said they can’t work it out in the budget at this time in the fiscal year.
At Wednesday night’s board meeting, though, there was some movement among officials. “I think bringing people together to talk instead of the daily confrontation of yelling where no one listens is much better,” said Supervisor Scott Seaton. Seaton suggested the board form a committee to discuss their options.
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https://www.whsv.com/2021/07/29/augusta-county-board-supervisors-discuss-body-cameras/
AUGUSTA COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) - The Augusta County Board of Supervisors voted against the advertised budget, which included funding for body and dash cameras for the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office.
Five board members voted in favor of the original balanced budget and against the advertised budget. Two board members voted in favor of the advertised budget and against the original budget.
The board also voted against the one cent tax increase. Jeff Slaven, Vice Chair of the Board of Supervisors, said ”I felt like that trying to do a tax increase on real estate when we are in the midst of a re-assessment was a little premature. We had a balanced budget, we could get by this year. Until we get our assessments in and actually see what the value of the properties are for the residents of the county before we start adjusting the tax rates on them.”
Slaven said that there are other projects that need to be tended to before they could fund the body and dash board cameras.
Butch Wells, Augusta County Board of Supervisors, said “We are incurring a significant amount of expenses and we got to be cautious about how we are going to fund these down to road.”
Wells said that while he supports the body and dash cameras, there are other financial needs that need to take precedence.
“The thing that is being talked about right now is the initial cost to get us started but in four or five years when we have to renew that will be another significant increase I would expect” said Wells.
Scott Seaton, Augusta County Board of Supervisors, who voted in favor of the body and dash cameras, said, ”I think these cameras are important for our deputies to have to protect them and if there are some bad ones to show what the bad ones are and help them to be educated and trained properly it’s just a real shame to me.”
Seaton said that a majority of the public is in favor of body and dash cameras.
Seaton at the meeting Wednesday said “We had a poll of 801 individuals on the internet that returned 90% favorable for cameras and those who wanted to pay for it 80%.”
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https://www.whsv.com/2023/04/28/augusta-county-board-supervisors-removes-body-dash-cams-budget/
Claire MitzelThe News LeaderAD-1:0-1SKIP
This article is part of our 2019 local election series. We are looking at the Augusta County Wayne District Supervisor race this week. You can find other candidate profiles here.
WAYNESBORO — Scott Seaton remembers the first time he drove into Waynesboro.
"I remember interviewing out here for UVA and coming over the mountain," Seaton said. "And just looking at Waynesboro and going, 'Wow, this feels right. This is the right place.'"
It was 1999, and Seaton, a physician, was getting out of the Navy and looking for a job.
He fell in love with Augusta County, and he hasn't looked back. Now, he's running as the Republican nominee for Wayne District supervisor to continue making the county a place where people want to live.
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