Thornton, Nelson to lead Henrico supervisors

Henrico's Board of Supervisors Tuesday night selected its chairman and vice chairman during its first meeting of 2018.

The board selected longtime Fairfield District Supervisor Frank Thornton as its chairman and Varina Supervisor Tyrone Nelson as its vice chair. Thornton has served his position since 1995; he and 2017 chairwoman Pat O'Bannon are the longest-serving board members. Thornton has served as the chairman of the board several other times during his tenure.

In brief remarks, Thornton thanked his colleagues for their support and challenged the board to build on the county’s successes and improve service to residents using an approach that he termed “possibility governance.”

“Possibility governance seeks to give priority to the citizens and locality needs,” he said. “It also means that fiscal responsibility and visionary planning are critical. We must listen more critically and seek greater input from our citizens. Possibility governance seeks solutions to and attempts to eradicate and eliminate the dragons of economic, educational and social disparities which exist in our communities on the local level. We can do it. This is my optimism.”

Nelson has served on the board since 2012 and was vice chairman in 2015 and chairman in 2016.

The board's makeup shifted to a Democratic majority when Democrat Courtney Lynch won a special election in November against Republican Bob Witte to fulfill the final two years of the term of late supervisor Dick Glover, who died last February.

The positions of chair and vice chair largely are ceremonial, and board members typically rotate the titles annually.