Augusta court action: Chester claims victory

Churchville attorney Francis Chester went to court today in Augusta County Circuit Court to request the County Administrator Pat Coffield allow petitions requesting rollbacks of assessments be displayed in public libraries.

According to the Staunton News Leader:

After County Attorney Patrick Morgan argued that County Administrator Pat Coffield is not the appropriate defendant in the case, Chester withdrew his motion and acknowledged that the Augusta County Library Board instead has the authority in the decision. However, Chester claimed this invalidated Coffield’s instruction to library officials to not display the petition and opens the path to submit his proposal directly to the libraries.

"This is the conclusion of the first battle,” he said, “and we won it, in the fight against the county and its taxes.”

The request now goes to the library board.