Joel Barkman, NVIA Fauquier County Chapter President

Local Leadership and Planning

by Joel Barkman

I enjoyed the spirit of comradery shared by the business community at the Home and Business Expo that the Chamber of Commerce directs annually! Our booth was bustling like all the other 48 businesses that were representing Fauquier's lifeblood. There was food, lots of merriment, networking, former and lifetime clients, new leads and a wealth of information that was bursting forth in spring-like fashion.

Karen Henderson, Executive Director of the Chamber was happy with the turnout. The surveys show that participating businesses highly value the event in both networking and reaching out to the community. Approximately 1000 people enjoyed the six-hour event and many walked away as winners of the multiple booth prizes.

A big thanks to our local business leaders and to those who came out to support us.

Leadership and planning - it is key to our success whether local or national. Leading with honesty, character, integrity and diligence are qualities that set us apart. We all lead in some way or fashion, let's endeavor to make each decision based on the good of the whole.

In the same spirit of 'togetherness' Elizabeth Dole said, "What you do before you make a decision is consult. The best public policy is made when you are listening to people who are going to be impacted. Then, once policy is determined, you call on them to help you sell it."

Recently I had the privilege of meeting with Congressman Frank Wolf and his idea is just that. He is proposing a bipartisan 16-member commission to examine every aspect of the federal budget.

County supervisor, Peter Swartz gathered a group of community and business leaders last week to ask the Congressman questions and to hear from him directly. His proposed commission would put "everything on the table" including entitlement spending, defense spending, domestic spending and tax policy. The unique aspect is that it would require an up or down vote by congress and is based on a former federal base-closing process.

What drives this need? The deficit in four major areas: the budget deficit, savings deficit, trade deficit and leadership deficit. Read all about it at www.wolf.house.gov/SAFE.

Concerning issues closer to home, I also attended a meeting with Fauquier Vice Chairman - Board of Supervisors, Terrence L. Nyhous to discuss local government issues, tax rates, zoning changes, and the plan for growth.

The Greater Piedmont Association of Realtors Association (GPAAR) hosted the event where Rick Carr, Community Planning director and Talmage Reeves, Economic Development director of Fauquier County, were accompanied Mr. Nyhous.

The Supervisor outlined his top four priorities for the county. Public safety, schools, economic development and parks/recreation. Further, his commitment to the service districts by providing adequate sewer, water and broadband to attract business in identified enterprise zones was stated.

The well-attended meeting floated a barrage of questions towards the speakers. What is your position on the C-1 revisions, increasing business tax base, the need for water reservoirs in the county rather than pulling large quantities of water through community wells, VDOT and zoning concerns, etc, etc.

Obviously, many questions remain to be answered and more remain to be asked. As "the voice of America's housing industry," The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) intends to listen and to be heard.

So remember, if it affects our community it affects our homes; just "Ask a Builder."

Please use our contact form to send your questions, or write to "Ask a Builder" at P.O. box 294, Catlett, VA 20119.

Barkman is president of the Fauquier Chapter of The Northern Virginia Building Industry Association.

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