Henrico supervisors receptive to Confederate Hills name change, consideration of citizen review board

Henrico's five-member Board of Supervisors appears receptive to changing the name of the Confederate Hills Recreation Center in Highland Springs and to considering the establishment of a citizen review board for public safety agencies.

Varina District Supervisor Tyrone Nelson, a Democrat, proposed both ideas in a Tuesday email to the board’s other four members.

“You cannot erase history. We also shouldn’t have it thrown up in our face as a reminder,” said Nelson, who is black, of the recreation center, which Henrico purchased from the adjacent Confederate Hills neighborhood association in 1994. “I’ve had citizens back as far as 2015 requesting that we change the name. I just don’t see what would be the issue. That’s something immediate that we should be able to see happen."

The board’s three Republican members – Chairman Tommy Branin (Three Chopt), Dan Schmitt (Brookland) and Pat O’Bannon (Tuckahoe) – told the Citizen Thursday that they would defer to Nelson’s wishes about the center, since it is in his district. Each also agreed that it would be appropriate to consider a review board.

The other Democrat on the board, Frank Thornton (Fairfield), also seemed to support both actions during an interview with the Citizen. Discussion about both items could come as early as Tuesday, when the board next meets.

“Mr. Nelson is a true asset to Henrico County and his district,” Branin told the Citizen. “He asked us to look at these, consider them and discuss them, and that’s what we’ll do. This board has to sit down and talk. In all that I’ve talked to, they agree with everything Tyrone wants.”

Nelson's desire for a citizen review board stems not from his distrust with Henrico Police, he said, but rather from a perspective that an additional layer of oversight would be appropriate in certain instances.

“Sometimes it’s difficult for you to hold accountable your own – I don’t care what the profession is,” Nelson told the Citizen. “I don’t want our police to think that I am an enemy of our police department. Our police department has done some really solid work. But I’ve also seen – not in Henrico, but across this country – black men killed by police. There’s something wrong with that.”

Of the review board concept, Branin said: “I think it’s a great idea. What that will look like, I can’t tell you. In Henrico, we actually sit down and listen to each other and talk about it. Everyone I’ve talked to has said, ‘Yeah that’s a great idea.’”

O’Bannon concurred.

“I totally understand where this is coming from, and I agree with a lot of what he has to say,” she said. Referencing a similar citizen-based board the county established recently to help increase racial and gender-based diversity in the division of police, she said, somewhat jokingly, “My first blush on that was, ‘Can we use that board, because they’re already there and we just had them.’”

Said Schmitt: “Tyrone is a hell of a public servant. He’s a good man, and he’s a good public servant, so when something like that’s on his mind, we’re going to discuss it. I’m not sure what [a review board] panel looks like; I would like to know if we have such a mechanism set up yet. We’re going to discuss that for sure.”

Branin said he’d also like to discuss the potential creation of a broader citizen advisory board, which could reflect upon various social issues in the county.

Of the proposed recreation center name change, Branin joked that “if Mr. Nelson wants to change it to Pink Tennis Shoe [Center]. . . it’s his district. We’re all saying ‘Heck, we don’t know why you didn’t bring it up earlier.’”

Schmitt similarly said he would trust Nelson’s decision-making in the Varina District.

“That’s in his district, I’m going to have ultimate respect for him in his district,” Schmitt said. “If that’s the will of the person representing that district. . . I don’t see why we would have a problem doing that.”

O’Bannon told the Citizen she had already toyed with some possible new names for the center, based upon the history of Highland Springs, including “Bonanza Springs Recreation Center” (in deference to one of the original springs for which the area was named).

Ultimately, though, she said her main input would be only to suggest that it not be named after a person.

But “changing the name of something like that is fine,” she said.

Streets adjacent to the recreation center are named for Confederate Civil War generals; the center itself sits on Lee Avenue, named for Robert E. Lee, and nearby streets are named for A.P. Hill, P.T.G. Beauregard and James Longstreet. Another street is named Confederate Run Court.

Thornton said Nelson’s suggestions on both topics were reasonable.

“It’s something I think the board should take a look at,” he said. “I’m definitely not against it at this moment.”

Nelson’s email Tuesday also sought action on two other items:

• reducing Henrico’s mutual aid police support to the city of Richmond, if Henrico officers are involved in the use of tear gas, “violent displays of aggression, and posturing;”

• a request to immediately terminate any police official who uses “unsupported maneuvers to detain human beings.”

Of the latter, Nelson’s colleagues generally agreed that such behavior should subject officers to punishment but that immediate termination in such a scenario would be impossible, since personnel policies provide due process for those cited for misconduct. Of the former, they tended to agree with Nelson’s concern but said they trusted County Manager John Vithoulkas and Henrico Police Chief Humberto Cardounel to act in the county’s best interests.

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