It took Mathews supervisors only a few minutes at the beginning of a special meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 22, to make the decision to subdivide the county’s Historic Court Green, carving out a 21’ x 22’ parcel around the Confederate monument in preparation for possibly conveying it to Mathews War Memorial Preservation Inc. The vote was 4-1, with supervisor Melissa Mason dissenting. Those in favor were Paul Hudgins, Jackie Ingram, Dave Jones and Mike Walls.

The next step in the process is a public hearing set for 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Harry M. Ward Auditorium at Mathews High School. Mathews residents will have a chance at that meeting to express their support for or disapproval of the supervisors’ proposal.

A number of Mathews residents urged the board on Nov. 22 to rethink its proposal to deed the Confederate monument and the land under it to the private nonstock corporation.

Speakers pointed out that, when last year’s referendum was held to determine whether the monument should ...