Retiring Richmond City Attorney Norman B. Sales will take over as Goochland's county attorney Jan. 18.
The county Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the appointment yesterday afternoon.
Sales will replace Andrew R. McRoberts, who resigned from the post in May. Barbara M. Rose, a former deputy county attorney in Hanover County, is serving as interim attorney.
Sales, a graduate of the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary, has worked in the city attorney's office in Richmond for more than 20 years, serving as city attorney for the past four.
In Goochland, he will earn $147,000 a year, the same as McRoberts. In Richmond he was paid $165,500.
"I am deeply honored by the Board of Supervisors' decision," he said. Sales, 52, announced his retirement from the city, effective Dec. 31, in October, citing personal reasons.
"Whatever I do next, I'm hoping it'll be at a slower pace and it'll free up time to spend with family," he said at the time.
In his time as city attorney, Sales found himself often in the middle of legal clashes between the council and then-Mayor L. Douglas Wilder.
Richmond City Councilman E. Martin Jewell called Sales' pending departure "heartbreaking."
"He's always kept things on an even keel. We're going to miss him dearly," Jewell said in October.
Sales is the latest addition to a new administration in Goochland after a shakeup in the utilities department last year that led to turnover in key positions, including those of utilities director and county administrator.
"Norman has a tremendous amount of experience that he'll bring to Goochland, and I think he'll be a perfect fit on the team," said new County Administrator Becky T. Dickson. "We're just very excited."
"I appreciate [Sales'] service to us, and I'm sure he'll do fine in Goochland," said Richmond City Council President Kathy C. Graziano. "It's a smaller community. It probably would be less time-consuming."
Meanwhile, supervisors voted yesterday to loan the county's struggling Tuckahoe Creek Service District $3 million for use in building a water-line extension from Henrico County.
The board voted to proceed with the project using money from the county's general fund because the water and sewer district in eastern Goochland lacks the funds to cover the project.
The mile-and-a-half extension, to be made in conjunction with Henrico's widening of Three Chopt Road, will allow Goochland to increase its water capacity from 5.25 million gallons per day to 12 million using water it purchases from Henrico.
Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or whester@timesdispatch.com.
Staff writer Will Jones contributed to this report.
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