Jonathan Wood is seeking the Peters Creek District seat on the Board of Supervisors in the November election.
Wood said he decided to seek the elected position because he’s had the ambition to do it for several years.
“With the life experiences I’ve had as well as my lifetime residency in the county, I believe that now is the time to offer myself to serve on the board,” he said.
Wood has been an agriculture teacher at Patrick County High School (PCHS) for 16 years and served as a Boys Scouts Scout Master.
“I’ve served on the state’s Young Farmers’ Committee (Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers Committee), I am the current Patrick County Farmer Bureau president, and I manage a 150-head of commercial and purebred Angus. So, with all of that, I’ve dealt with lots of budgets, goal setting, and developing plans to achieve those goals,” he said.
Wood said the board and the yet-to-be-named new county administrator need to be actively seeking businesses and industries to come to the county to provide well-paying jobs to residents.
As a teacher at PCHS, Wood said he saw all too often students graduate and have few job opportunities when they return home from college or technical school.
“They often move to other areas to find suitable jobs,” he said.
Adding businesses will also allow the county to not rely solely on homeowners, small business owners, and landowners as its tax base.
“Currently, it seems that we are viewed as an unlimited budget, the citizens are. Real estate taxes are raised to balance our county budget, it seems all too often they are. This is not an option for our families that have to balance our home budgets by making adjustments,” he said.
Wood would also like to see more transparency between the board and county residents because “it’s key in all levels of government.
“The county budget should be available in an easy-to-read and easy-to-understand document where the citizens should see what line items have increased and what line items have decreased,” he said.
Oftentimes, Wood said the government asks for input, but what’s being asked for may not be clear to everyone.
“All people have the right to have their voices heard,” he said.
