Republican primaries could fill two Botetourt board of supervisors seats

Botetourt County’s Amsterdam and Buchanan residents will each vote between two candidates for the board of supervisors in the June 17 Republican primary. These primaries are tantamount to election, as no Democrats have registered to run for a seat.

The five-member county board is made up of Amy White in the Buchanan District, “Mac” Scothorn in the Valley District, Steve Clinton in the Amsterdam District, Walter Michael in the Blue Ridge District and Brandon Nicely in the Fincastle District. All current members are Republicans. 

Clinton is retiring after his term ends at the end of this year, leaving an open Amsterdam District seat that Tim Snyder and Dirk Padgett are competing for. 

In the Buchanan District, incumbent White is running against one challenger, Linda Rotman. 

Padgett did not respond to a request for an interview for this story, nor did he respond to multiple requests to fill out the Cardinal News Voter Guide questionnaire. Rottman, via email, declined an interview request but did fill out the Voter Guide questionnaire.

The county is currently experiencing rising real estate assessments and an aging population. As of last year, almost a quarter of the county’s population was at least 65 years old. 

Amsterdam District: Padgett vs. Snyder for open seat

Snyder has lived in Botetourt since 1979 and grew up on a family farm in Fincastle. He’s the director of Technology at Virginia Lutheran Homes and the owner of GSS Computer Technology. 

Snyder is a former Booster Club president, youth sports coach, advisor through Leadership Roanoke Valley and serves on the county’s planning commission, which he’s sat on for two and a half years. 

“That provided me opportunities to work in the community … see how our county government works, and kind of aligns with who I am as someone who wants to be active and involved, as opposed to sitting on the sidelines,” Snyder said in a recent interview.

On the planning commission, Snyder voted to change zoning guidelines in Greenfield Industrial Park and was involved in the updating of the county’s comprehensive plan. 

He also said he supported a 2024 conservation easement for the Lee family in Daleville, who live in a century-old home on a hay farm, to protect the historic property. All members of the board voted in favor of this conservation easement.

Snyder said most of his votes support economic development, but he did vote against the special exemptions permit that will allow a Wawa to come to the county.

“We can certainly debate the need [for] gasoline pumps in the community, but [in] that particular location, maybe something else could have gone there,” Snyder said. The application was ultimately approved by the commission. 

He describes himself on his campaign website as having a reputation for “service, integrity and conservative values.”

As a business owner, Snyder cited leadership as a transferable skill that might carry over well as a member of the board. He also cited skills in identifying profit and loss and working with people at every level to make sure employees are supported.

“Lack of communication is generally responsible for most failures, so that is something that I’ll pay close attention to,” he said. 

On his campaign website, he said he supports “well-planned growth,” which he defines as the “approval of applications that flow well with our existing infrastructure.”

“So well-planned is not just today,” he said. “Well-planned means what does that look like down the road 5, 10, 20 years out, and how are we affected by that?”

He said the Amsterdam District in particular has seen a lot of approved development applications and a “real boom” in housing. But, not all of these approvals have been built out yet. 

Tiffany Bradbury, director of communications for the county, said she was unable to provide data related to how much residential development the county has seen in recent years.

“I think at the moment, from a residential perspective, we’re in a place where we need to just allow these developments to be fulfilled that have been approved, and then reevaluate once that happens,” Snyder said. 

Snyder continued, saying he does not intend to raise real estate taxes but will support economic development, for example, in Greenfield Industrial Park and in the four interstate interchanges, that will “continue to lessen the need to tax home ownership or personal property.”

He said declining school enrollment numbers in the county and “slowly deteriorating” school buildings need attention and “significant cooperation” from the board of supervisors and the school board. You can read his answers to the Cardinal News Voter Guide questionnaire here.

Padgett, also running to represent the Amsterdam District, is a family and criminal attorney in the Roanoke region and is a military veteran. 

According to his biography on his firm’s website, he grew up in Roanoke and graduated from Roanoke College after serving in the Army. He later studied at Georgetown University and the University of Richmond. He worked part-time as a state prosecutor in Botetourt County and was Chief Deputy within the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office in Bedford County.

Padgett lost in the race for Roanoke County Commonwealth Attorney in 2019, receiving 20% of the vote in the three-way race. 

In April, Padgett received a public reprimand from the Virginia State Bar for issues regarding “non-refundable” fees he charged a client, failing to properly keep records on a client’s case and misconduct with a client. Terms of the reprimand included completing six hours of legal education credits in trust accounting. 

Buchanan District: Rottman challenges White

White, the incumbent candidate, lives on a sixth-generation family farm in the county and grew up in the same house that her grandfather was born in. She said she works as much as she can on the farm, and her children have expressed interest in continuing production when it becomes their turn.

She’s been on the board of supervisors for five years.

White is currently the dean of the School of STEM at Virginia Western Community College, where she has taught since 2005.

“I’ve really come to understand how important it is for all components of a community to interact well together,” White said. “I’ve come to understand that economic development is very important to a community, and that economic development is not as successful, and won’t be successful, unless there’s an appropriate workforce to support that development.” 

She said serving as a dean at VWCC has taught her skills in budgeting, personnel, organizational structure, leadership skills and “making hard decisions.”

In her time on the board of supervisors, White said she’s proud of contributing to economic development and manufacturing gains.

Botetourt County annual reports show that from 2020 to 2023, manufacturing job growth increased by 27%, surpassing state and national growth at 5% and 6.5%, respectively.

She said she’s made it a priority to attend town council meetings, so that “the county and the town can hopefully work together again.”

White also noted accomplishing a surface treatment for a road that needed it for years and an effort to be a “liaison between constituents and the county government.”

White acknowledged that there’s “never enough time” to accomplish everything.

“I think the looming question over this election is obviously taxes, and our tax rate,” she said. 

The rate is currently $0.70 per $100 of assessed value, reduced from $0.79 by the board of supervisors last year, and the county saw a 42% increase in residential real property valuations from 2023 to 2024, Bradbury said. 

“I would always be open to adjusting a tax rate, because I pay the same tax rate as constituents,” White said. She said a holistic approach is important. “I really think it’s about balancing the needs of our citizens with the tax burden that our citizens bear via real estate and personal property taxes.” She said she does not believe there is waste in the budget.

One way she proposed to address rising costs is through economic development. 

The county’s services, like Fire/EMS and police, White said, have improved but still have room for improvement. The Buchanan District has, for the first time, a fully-staffed Fire/EMS department, White said. 

White said she wants to make “solid plans for the future of our schools,” which she acknowledged is not under the jurisdiction of the board of supervisors, but that the board can help with land decisions and infrastructure needs.

Rottman, who did not respond to requests for an interview, has lived in Botetourt County since 2013. 

In the Cardinal News Voter Guide questionnaire, Rottman responded to a question about the county’s issues by saying she feels White “betrayed [the residents’] trust.” She said, talking to residents, they feel their taxes are too high and don’t feel the supervisors listen to them. 

She said the budget process is a “key problem” because spending increases yearly, and the budget is built off last year’s “as a given.” She suggested “zero-based budgeting” instead of “automatic increases every year” to balance the budget.

As a retired resident living on a farm, she wrote that she thinks farmers in the county have been “forgotten.”

You can read their answers to the Cardinal News Voter Guide questionnaire here.