Newly discovered emails show that Isle of Wight County supervisors and County Attorney Bobby Jones — not the School Board or school administrators — negotiated a controversial $6 million purchase price for a former borrow pit as the site of a new elementary school. … The purchase price, more than 32 times the land’s tax-assessed value of roughly $200,000, was driven by a controversial $6.5 million appraisal that didn’t consider the land’s history as a borrow pit and current subsoil conditions, including up to 16 feet of uncontrolled fill. … Jones hasn’t responded to the Times’ request for comments on his March email, obtained by the Times through a Freedom of Information Act request. Neither has County Administrator Don Robertson.

Tensions over development and data centers surfaced again during the Sept. 14 Buckingham County Board of Supervisors meeting, where a dispute over public-comment procedures led to a sharp exchange between a resident and board Chairman Joe Chambers Jr. … Before public comments began, Chambers addressed criticism he said he received after changing the order of items at a previous meeting. “Sometimes, we have to change our agenda because different (attendees) have to leave, and at the last meeting, I changed the agenda … and I got blasted for doing this by a constituent,” Chambers said. “And she wanted me to apologize. “I’m not gonna apologize to her because she was out of order. She didn’t have permission to speak as she jumped up, and yelled, and … all I told her is that if you can’t wait until your time, go home. Chambers said the same thing applies for this meeting. “If you can’t wait until your time, go home,” he said.

The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors’ agenda was light with no public hearings on Tuesday night, but there were still plenty of fireworks. Two members of the board came under fire during the meeting for different reasons. Courtland District Supervisor Drew Mullins apologized near the end of the meeting for posts that he made on the social media platform X. Residents also questioned recently appointed Chancellor District Supervisor Tim McLaughlin’s character and attention to detail, alleging that he used the wrong address on his application to be considered for the position; he didn’t file conflict of interest statements before he was sworn in as required by law; and he accosted a county resident with harsh language at early voting. … Dawn Shelley, who also applied for the Chancellor District vacancy, filed a Freedom of Information Act request for McLaughlin’s conflict of interest form last week, and noted that it was completed this past Monday.