Tuesday July 25, 2023
CANDIDATE PROFILE: Howard Rudat | TWILIGHT HISTORY
Candidate Profile: Howard Rudat
When it comes to running for Stafford Board of Supervisors, Howard Rudat is arming himself with 3x5 cards and a listening ear.
F2S: Tell us a bit about where you come from.
Howard Rudat: As I’ve mounted this run for the seat on the Board of Supervisors for the Rock Hill district, I’ve been reflecting a great deal about how my family in Northeastern Pennsylvania has shaped who I am today. My Dad’s parents’ immigrated to the United States from Germany shortly before WWI. His father was a coal miner, and then a farmer.
My grandfather on my mother’s side started the local volunteer fire department, and he was the first postmaster in our town of Fleetville.
My parents opened a grocery store, which also contained the local post office, and it was open 12 hours a day, 363 days a year. I worked there growing up, and then all through college when I was a student at the University of Scranton.
I’m the third of three, my sister has for 40 years been a registered nurse, and my brother is a retired captain with the Fairfax County Police Department.
F2S: You took a military path, correct?
Rudat: Yes. When I graduated high school, there was a new program called the Simultaneous Membership Program. So I went to basic training after high school, and joined ROTC while in college. I was assigned to a reserve military police unit and served in that capacity through school.
One summer, our unit was actually called up in the early 1980s during the Cuban Refugee crisis.
After college, I entered the Army as an ordnance officer, and then went to EOD school (the military’s bomb squad). Served in multiple spots around the world, then finished my career – as so many do – at the Pentagon. I retired in 2009 as a Colonel.
F2S: And today?
Rudat: After retiring, I became a government contractor. Then, in 2015, I opened my own service-disabled, veteran owned small business that is located right here in Stafford. My company focuses on technological solutions for soldiers. Many people don’t realize that the mobile technology we depend on is a security and safety issue for deployed military, because the devices often depend on the local telecommunications infrastructure, the cloud, and geo-location services. We are working to provide solutions that allow soldiers to carry mobile-phone-type devices that do not have these dependencies, and hence can’t be tracked by our enemies.
F2S: What about your family? And when did you come to Stafford?
Rudat: I’m married, and like many others, we have a blended family. Three of the four boys attended Stafford County Public Schools. My wife is a career civilian with the Department of Defense
I settled in Stafford in 2004, after returning from an overseas assignment and we have called Stafford home ever since.
F2S: What got you into politics?
Military people, of course, travel a great deal. I’ve lived on both coasts, and as I moved around I came to appreciate how local governments shaped the characters and communities that we resided in. Some of the approaches were good, others not so much.
When I came to Stafford, I started watching Board of Supervisors’ meetings and asking questions. Sometimes I would see us doing things that I had seen done better elsewhere, so I’d ask “Why this way, and not that way?”
As time went by, and I saw some of the local headlines here, I became frustrated with the local representation.
I felt that the supervisors needed to worry more about the residents than they did themselves.
F2S: You attended the Democrats’ Unity meeting in Fredericksburg, hosted by Joel Griffin. What should people know about your political perspective?
There are some core principles that shape me. I’m fiscally conservative. I believe in everyone’s right to vote. And I believe that everyone is equal, and should be treated as such. These are ideals that should unite us, and that they don’t has led me to be frustrated with both political parties.
Every single subject, it seems, has become polarizing, because people want to drag national politics into it.
Consequently, some people throw out red herrings at board meetings – like U.S. immigration policy – instead of talking about local issues that face the residents of Stafford and issues that the Board of Supervisors can influence.
The needs of the citizens of Stafford can’t be so divisive that votes on the Board of Supervisors always seem to come down to 4-3 votes. Through compromise and working together, we should be able to get to more 7-0 votes on the issues facing us.
We have to stop looking at issues through a national lens, and ask, What’s best for the county?
F2S: Do you think voters are ready for that type of approach to politics?
Rudat: The current approach clearly isn’t working. People have very strong beliefs on very specific issues, but by and large, we live our lives in the middle. When we eat out, we don’t always eat at Ruth Chris Steakhouse, nor do we eat at McDonald’s. Sometimes we splurge, sometimes we don’t. Mostly we live somewhere between those extremes. We make these compromises every day of our lives in so many different areas. I think people understand what partisan politics has done to us, and they’re ready for something better.
F2S: What are the things that are most important to you?
I have three issues that I believe we in Stafford need to focus on:
Safer Communities – We need well-trained, fully-equipped, properly-staffed public safety professionals. The Sheriff, fire, and EMS are a community. We can’t treat or pay some better than others. We need to treat them equally.
The risks they take now are higher than ever. They need to be properly compensated for what they do. Starting salary for police, fire, and teachers is around $50,000, but the median home price is $416,000. We have to give them an affordable place to live, so they can consider Stafford home, and not just a place to work. This, of course, means creating more affordable housing.
By affordable housing I don’t mean low-income housing. I mean houses for teachers, military, healthcare workers, and the public safety community.
My own thought is to create an incentive for developers to build more starter homes. And certainly more condominiums or apartments. But the county has to be all in. If you use the target density areas that are in the comprehensive plan (Downtown Stafford, for example, and apartments along Garrisonville Road), you begin to make some headway. Density will give you more bang for your buck. And it will entice commercial developers to come here and build more-movie theaters, restaurants. Things that make a community a place where people want to gather and live.
And we also have to look outside the box. I think about the BOOTS program, Bringing Occupational Opportunities to Students where the high schools work together every year to build a house. They’ve built 25 homes so far.
These houses alone aren’t solving the housing problem, of course, but they are symbolic of what can happen when we work together and create a sense of community.
Vibrant Schools – Our superintendent has a saying: Zero-to-18 year olds make up 20% of our population, but 100% of our future. We are the fifth richest county in Virginia. Our schools should reflect that; not be sitting at number 116 out of the 132 counties in the state.
Funding for schools has been trending down in the county. You’re never going to build that bridge between our county budget and the schools’ needs with all the negative energy being generated. Our board chair and school board chair should be meeting weekly, in a nonconfrontational way, to build trust between the two boards and to begin finding solutions.
Vibrant Economy – Funding for Stafford sits entirely on the backs of its residents. Stafford says it’s “open for business,” but we do a lot of things that make it tough on local business.
I find it embarrassing that the Board of Supervisors continue to defer, defer, defer before voting on someone getting the approvals they need to move forward with their business all because supervisors aren’t prepared. In many cases, these people have already been waiting months if not longer, as their applications go through the staffing process and have real money on the line and it costs them more and more money when the board does not make a timely decision. We need to do everything in our power to help businesses succeed in Stafford, especially small businesses. We have to do a better job of informing commercial developers about Stafford. We may not fit their models for expansion but we have a true need for quality-of-life amenities in this county. Things that will keep us off of I95 and adding to the gridlock.
We also need to look at our zoning ordinances.
Data centers are a hot topic right now and there is a great deal of discussion regarding cost vs. benefit. Although they are looking at making changes, in Stafford today, a data center could build by-right with no input from the public, the planning commissions, or the board of supervisors. These parcels were zoned before the internet was invented. How can we not have better oversight?
Here’s another example of the potential problems we are facing.
There’s a new Tractor Supply Company being built near my community. That’s great, and some people are excited. But that property was zoned in 1989 and TSC is building on that property by-right. Therefore, again, there were no public hearings before the planning commission or the Board of Supervisors. I’m not saying that having a Tractor Supply on that parcel is right or wrong, but how can we be assured that a 1989 zoning decision Is in the best interest of the Stafford of 2023 if no one in the planning commission or on the Board of Supervisors even gets an opportunity to review the proposed development?
F2S: What advice do you have for citizens about local government?
Rudat: If you want to be an advocate for change, be a change advocate.
We just witnessed some of the lowest primary turnout in recent history. If you don’t participate in the process, you can’t complain about that process.
I also encourage people to get out and really listen to others in the community. I will be doing that.
My plan is to hold recurring town meetings, so that I really get to hear from constituents and understand what issues are facing them.
I’ve heard supervisors say they’ve “talked to constituents.” Well, I live in one of the larger subdivisions in my district, and on our community’s Facebook page, people regularly note that their supervisor has never sought their opinion. So who are the supervisors talking to?
Supervisors work for every person in this county; they need to get out, ask questions and listen more.
F2S: Listening matters, but so does coming with answers. Agree?
Rudat: Absolutely. I want to hear from people, and have them ask me hard questions. And I have to be ready with answers.
In the military, we used the BLUF acronym. Bottom Line Up Front.
If you can’t explain something to people in a few sentences, or back in my days in the Pentagon your explanation had to fit on a 3X5 card, you probably don’t understand the problem or the potential solution well enough yourself.
I intend to dig into the problems that I hear about, listen to constituents, and then put together solutions that we can use as a starting point for change.
F2S: What do you want voters to know about you and your campaign?
Rudat: I have a plan for the future of Stafford and I am anxious to get out in the community, to meet people, to listen. I have no plans to run an attack campaign; I’m going to run a facts campaign. I would hope that my opponent will do the same and let the chips fall where they will.
Also, I am open to debating my opponent on the issues facing Stafford and her record on the planning commission as a county supervisor.
Twilight History
July 31-August 3, 6-8pm
$115.00 per registrant, $95 for WHM members
Explore some of the area's most precious historic sites; the Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop, the Rising Sun Tavern, the Mary Washington House...and now for the FIRST time, the Mary Washington Monument. This a perfect chance for parents to enjoy downtown Fredericksburg while we educate children ages 8 to 12 with hands-on 18th-century skills, trades, and recipes.
Activities include
At the Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop, campers will have the exciting chance to learn about spies, codes, and intelligence that heroes like General Mercer would have studied during the Revolutionary War. Don't forget an educational take-home medicinal leech kit for sewing practice!
Rising Sun Tavern offers campers an explorative experience like none other, with a mapping activity to find our lost billiards hall and a taste of the popular syllabub dessert (non-alcoholic).
After a behind-the-scenes tour of the Mary Washington House and its kitchen, campers will learn to embroider their own initials, decorate a take-home flower pot in 18th century style, and even write a letter to Mary.
Camp will conclude with Family Fun Night at the Mary Washington Monument! Parents, guardians, and siblings are invited to stay and enjoy syllabub, games, and dancing.