Mathews County Board of Supervisors

hree incumbent supervisors won re-election in Mathews County in November, and the five-member board is accordingly made up of residents with many years of service accumulated among them.

To build on this familiarity, outgoing board chair O.J. Cole reflected to his colleagues, as they reorganized for 2012, with a summary and a practical philosophy: "We accomplished quite a bit. Sometimes we agreed to disagree, but we came back and took care of business."

And that is an object lesson that many government bodies, from Congress to Virginia’s General Assembly, should take to heart. Stop grandstanding and squabbling. Earn your pay. Do the work that you were sent to Washington, or Richmond, to do.

In Mathews, all supervisors serve at-large. A great deal of information about the local government may be found on the county’s website, www.co.mathews.va.us. But there is never really any need to get too formal. Any county employee...