The Virginia Board for Contractors recently brought action against the contracting firm JB Property Development, owned by brothers Dave and George Jones of Mathews, for alleged violations that occurred in the past five years.

Dave Jones is a member of the Mathews County Board of Supervisors. Out of four complaints, one was dismissed with no finding of a violation.

The board found on March 22 that the company was in violation of the Uniform Statewide Building Code on two counts—one for failure to obtain inspections for a construction job completed in August 2017 for Spring Hill Baptist Church in Cobbs Creek and the other for failing to notify Miss Utility in February 2018 about digging for footers for a garage project on New Point Comfort Highway in Mathews. It assessed a fine of $500 against the company for each violation, for a total of $1,000.

Another complaint involved approximately $15,000 in change orders done outside the scope of a house elevation project in Virginia Beach. George Jones signed a consent order admitting the violation, and the company was fined a $400 monetary penalty and charged $150 for board costs. The company also agreed to have a member of its responsible management successfully complete a board-approved remedial education class within 90 days of the June 2021 date of the consent order.

JB Property Development response

Dave Jones, speaking on behalf of JB Property Development LLC, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that he is appealing the Board for Contractors’ decision in the Spring Hill Church matter to Circuit Court. He said he may appeal the Miss Utility complaint, as well. Because the Virginia Beach complaint involved a consent order, that will not be appealed, he said.

Board for Contractors matters do not involve either civil or criminal charges, so “I could pay the fines and go on about my business,” said Jones, but he has decided to appeal instead.

Jones pointed out that he had appeared before the board of supervisors when former building official Jamie Wilks was still employed by the county and had complained that Wilks was refusing to provide him with inspection tickets to say inspections had been performed.

Then-supervisor Pepper Love directed Wilks to provide the tickets, “but that never happened,” said Jones.

Finally, Jones said the current building official, Kevin Zoll, provides inspection tickets as a matter of course, and that Zoll had issued a final inspection ticket on the Spring Hill Baptist Church project in October 2021 after Jones provided the paperwork from the professional engineer.

Board conflict

Some members of the Mathews Board of Supervisors got a dressing down during the board meeting on March 22 by residents who disapproved of their behavior during a March 15 planning commission meeting.

During the March 15 meeting, Dave Jones, saying he was addressing the commission as “citizen Dave Jones,” said that he had heard from supervisors’ chair Paul Hudgins that a commission member had called County Attorney Andrea Erard and had told her “that I was not a licensed contractor in the state of Virginia.” Jones said he had been a licensed contractor for almost 30 years, was on his second company, and had in his hand a copy of his license, with an expiration date of 2024.

“Someone on this board is trying to create problems for me,” said Jones. “And Mr. Hill [planning commissioner Tim Hill], I will no longer put up with it. I am hereby asking for your resignation from this board. I’ve got no more to say.”

Supervisor Mike Walls then addressed the planning commission member directly, saying that Hill had been censured (by the Mathews Republican Committee) for similar behavior in October.

“And you did the exact same thing to the exact same person again,” he said.

Pointing out Hill’s record of commendable service to the county, Walls said that he and other supervisors were working to try to better the county, and he couldn’t imagine why Hill would “do this for a second time to the same person.”

“I’m going to speak as one board member,” said Walls, “and I’m going to tell you I’m not going to tolerate it, and it’s going to end. The fact that you served this county admirably for the last six years—it’s a shame that it’s got to end on this note … You need to resign.”

Hill responded to the comments, saying he had been called by a private resident who wanted to know whether Jones was a licensed contractor, and Hill suggested he check with both Erard and the state corporation commission. He said he then called Erard to ask her what to do when he received such calls from citizens.

“I truly object to you all bringing something like that to me right here,” said Hill, “and even more so—I’ve been six to seven years doing stuff for this county, and totally innocently trying to find information on an inquiry. If you can make something more of this, gentlemen, as you’ve tried to do, that’s fine, have at it.”

Hill said what Jones and Walls had done was “totally inappropriate,” while his own effort “to try and find an answer for a citizen was “totally appropriate.”

Hudgins, who serves as the supervisors’ liaison to the planning commission, then weighed in on the matter, accusing Hill of attacking him and supervisor Jackie Ingram, and adding, “now you’re going after Mr. Jones.”

“These are board of supervisor members, mind you, who appoint people to this board that you are currently sitting on,” said Hudgins. “And the total disrespect you have for board members is unacceptable.”

The following week, during the board of supervisors’ meeting, Gwynn’s Island resident Dan Hill described the incident as an attack against Tim Hill “for questioning whether Jones has a valid contractor’s license.”

Dan Hill said he was the one who initiated the question. He said he was asked by a resident whether Jones had a license, and he then called Tim Hill, who suggested that they check with the state corporation commission. Hill suggested that, because of Dave Jones’s ongoing litigation with the county, Erard should probably have that information, and he suggested that the resident check with her, as well.

Dan Hill said he learned that Jones does have a valid contractor’s license, but “what he did in attacking Mr. Hill in a public forum does not reflect well on Mr. Jones,” he said. “And the fact that Mr. Walls called for Mr. Hill’s resignation does not reflect well on him. When a citizen asks a board member a question, they’re entitled to an answer.”

Dan Hill called for a public apology from Jones and Walls.