Kandy Hilliard represented the Aquia District of Stafford County for the past few years. However, in December she served on the Board of Supervisors for the last time. Hilliard was defeated by Paul Milde and says she has no plans to re-enter politics at this time.
Hilliard, 44, who is an assistant with The Childcare Network, says she will continue to work from the sidelines to improve the county. She says most of her work as a supervisor, for which she was paid about $20,000 annually, was rewarding. She agreed to share her political experiences with The Free Lance-Star. Here are some excerpts from that interview.
Q You have said you spent about 35 hours a week doing work as a supervisor. What will you do now?
A Well, I've never been someone who has not stayed busy. I'll actually spend more time on my other job. I'm not really sure what life is going to hold for me.
Q Are you planning to run for office again?
A Not at this moment. It was brutal campaign. I have no plans or desire to go back into public office.
Q Why did the campaign get so brutal, and were you surprised you lost?
A The bottom line is my opponent got his people out and I didn't get my people out. He spent a lot more money than I did. It gave him the ability to frame his message and be heard. Also, I think there's this sense of frustration that things were not being done as quickly as people had hoped and the board as a whole wasn't getting things done. People are frustrated by traffic, and the pace is so fast. People want things done yesterday. And there's this lack of understanding of "by-right." If someone owns a piece of property, we can't just tell them they can't develop it. I guess they felt that putting somebody new in would accomplish those things.
Q Did you lose because you are a Democrat?
A Possibly. I would say this is a strong Republican district.
Q But you won this district once.
A The first time I ran, this was a targeted precinct by the gubernatorial people. I didn't realize I had benefited by that. They did get the people out to vote.
Q What is one of the things that you contributed that you are most proud of?
A One of the things I'm very proud of is having been able to bring people together to establish a unified vision about where Stafford is going. You'll probably ask me my greatest disappointment, and that is not being able to complete that.
Q And what is the vision for Stafford?
A Understanding the importance of place and community, such as working toward creating a downtown, a center place by the Courthouse area. I've been effective in helping people see that, and getting people talking about a number of initiatives related to that. Virginia Tech created a template to establish a village. I'm also proud of the anti-litter campaign along [State Route] 610, [U.S.] 17 and elsewhere. I will continue to work for the county whether I'm in public office or not. I think that's what makes this a safer place. That's what makes people feel connected. That's a legacy of my time in office.
Q How was being on the board different from what you thought it would be like?
A When I first ran for the board I was told it was two meetings a month. I thought, 'Well, I certainly could do that.' I ended up spending about 35 hours a week. The biggest thing that is different than I expected is the amount of info that you have to process on a daily basis. I had no idea of the complexity of the issues. You're talking about sewer, water, runoff, watershed protection, highway funding, funding sources in general.
Q If you were to do it again, how would you do it differently?
A Find some way to better organize all the different types of paper. I was buried in paper.
Q What are the most important issues facing the county in the near future?
A Long-range planning. We have set in motion a process in the comprehensive plan, which is what is used as a guide as Stafford is developed. It was established for moving the county forward. How the county is developed is one of the most significant things. We have to have reality checks, and look at the future from a regional perspective.
Q What about road safety and growth?
A It's very easy to stand back and point fingers at people. This county has grown very dramatically, and that has caused a lot of problems. We need to keep the brightest, best people working for the county. We have to look at compensation because right now we are a training ground. If we could keep them we would spend less time putting out fires, and more time doing long-term planning. We'd be able to look at the big picture.
Q Now that you're not on the board anymore, can you tell us: Will Crow's Nest be saved?
A I believe there is going to be a partnership with the development community, the state and environmentalists. When everybody comes to the table, that's the only way Crow's Nest will be saved.
Q Is there a question you'd like to ask and answer?
A One of the most surprising things about being on the board is once you take a job in public office you cease to be a person. You become that office. People who were friends of yours your entire life become enemies because of a vote or a position you took. It surprised me. People just automatically believe everything they read in the paper. And on land-use issues, people didn't seem to understand that even though they may be personally impacted by an issue before the board, I still had to look at the greater good, not the individual good.
To reach JODI BIZAR:
Email: jbizar@freelancestar.com
Editor's note: This is the first in a series of interviews with incoming and outgoing members of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors. |