ANALYSIS: Organizational Meetings Begin This Week ...
... Here's what the Advance will be watching for early in the year.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Local boards and councils will begin holding their reorganization meetings this week. Though focused mostly on ceremony (seating and welcoming new members) and housecleaning (setting calendars and making appointments), these meetings are not without drama. The selection of chairs and vice-chairs provide an early insight into board power dynamics.
This week, the Advance looks at what’s coming in 2026 for the four boards and councils that will hold their organizational meetings this year.
Fredericksburg
The City Council holds its organizational meeting this afternoon. The mayor runs the meetings, but the council will elect a vice mayor.
This year’s council welcomes three newly elected members — Matt Rowe (Ward 1), Joy Crump (Ward 2), Susanna Finn (Ward 3) — and one re-elected member, Charlie Frye (Ward 4).
Rowe, Crump, and Finn are newly elected, but only Crump is truly new to government. Rowe previously served on the School Board, and Finn formerly served on the Planning Commission before being selected to fill the seat vacated by Tim Duffy.
The election this past year grew tense as some were angry over the Democratic committee in Fredericksburg endorsing candidates in a city that has traditionally held nonpartisan elections, but is not required to do so.
That action led to the Republican committee endorsing its own slate of candidates. None of the Republican endorsees for City Council were elected.
Political tensions are not the only reality this new Council will face. Tensions within the city between pro-growth factions and anti-growth factions have been growing over the past decade. They will again be front-and-center as the city faces a number of financial challenges in 2026.
Chief among them is the budget. With federal funding in flux, and the demand for services rising, Fredericksburg must find other revenue streams to meet the demands before it.
The city’s surest path to dealing with its growing costs are the approval of data centers that will produce tens of millions in new revenues when they are fully online. A vocal anti-data-center group in the city regularly makes its presence felt in the Council’s chambers, but this year’s Council members must balance activists’ concerns against the reality that without the tens of millions of dollars in new revenue data centers will produce, taxes will likely need to go much higher than they are currently.
Educational funding will be another concern for Council, as federal funding for programs like school lunches, Head Start, and special education face uncertain waters in 2026. More concerning is whether the state, which supplies a significant amount to local education funding, may have to hold the line on its education funding due to having to fill holes left by devastating federal cuts to feeding and health programs.
Population growth and the need for affordable housing are still other issues before this Council. Fredericksburg’s population is projected to continuing growing over the next 25 years. To meet the housing demand this creates will require more-dense housing and transportation improvements.
Read the Advance’s preview of Monday afternoon’s City Council meeting
Stafford
The Stafford County Board of Supervisors will hold its organizational meeting on Tuesday evening.
Over the past three Congressional elections, Stafford County’s shift from a red county to a blue one has been apparent. The gubernatorial election in November solidified its shift to blue, and that shift is now also evident on the Board of Supervisors.
Democrats will hold four seats on the Board (Griffis-Widewater District, Aquia District, Falmouth District, and the Garrisonville District). The current Board chair, Deuntay Diggs, carried Republican backing, but he has frequently butted heads with now-former Republican Board member Meg Bohmke and returning Republican Board member Crystal Vanuch.
Diggs proved himself to be an even-handed and thoughtful Board Chair in 2025. With Republicans Vanuch and Darryl English unlikely to have a serious chance at becoming chair in 2026, the Board will likely decide among Diggs, Tinesha Allen, and Pamela Yeung for Board chair.
The Advance will be watching to see if the Democrats line up behind one of the three and vote for that individual, or if there is a split, giving Republicans Vanuch and English the ability to potentially cast the tie-breaking votes. Should that happen, they will potentially have more leverage in the year ahead.
This new Board will need to find its footing quickly. The county’s financial needs are soaring, and its revenues are not. The way the Board handled — or mishandled — data center approvals and standards votes this past year created uncertainty as to where the county stands on the economic development opportunity.
The Board will also have to decide this year on whether to permit Buc-ee’s to come into the county.
As in Fredericksburg, a loud anti-growth faction continually shows up at Board meetings in Stafford. How the new Board weighs vocal activists against the fiscal realities the county will be facing in 2026 will be a significant story.
The Advance will preview the Stafford Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday afternoon.
King George County
This year, the Advance will also begin previewing meetings for King George County and Caroline County. This week, King George County’s Board of Supervisors and School Board will hold their organizational meetings.
The Advance will preview the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday morning and the School Board meeting on Wednesday morning.
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