Coffee talks are evidence of improved Richmond-Chesterfield relations

Sometimes regionalism starts at Starbucks.

Every other Monday, Chesterfield County's Midlothian District Supervisor Daniel A. Gecker and Richmond City Council President and 4th District representative Kathy C. Graziano meet for coffee and conversation in South Richmond.

They talk about issues of mutual interest in their neighboring localities and districts, regional initiatives and their children.

"Better regional government will come if the leaders know each other personally," Gecker said. "We discuss specifics about issues that impact our districts, but we also talk about the regional issues -- transportation, housing, the legislative agenda."

In many places, a meeting of neighboring elected officials might seem unremarkable. But for Richmond and Chesterfield -- which have maintained a civil but prickly relationship for decades -- it's significant.

"We're trying to understand how each other's government system works -- where we're the same, where we're different and where we have common interests," Graziano said.

In 2005, both newly elected Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and then-Chesterfield Board of Supervisors Chairman Edward B. Barber made overtures of enhanced cooperation and communication between the neighbors. Nothing materialized.

This year when Mayor Dwight C. Jones took office, he pledged the same but took it a step further, appearing at a Chesterfield Board of Supervisors meeting in February to offer an olive branch. In April, Gecker and County Administrator James J.L. Stegmaier reciprocated with a visit to Richmond City Council.

Small gestures, perhaps, but meaningful ones.

"The change is that you have different officials now," Gecker said, noting that a year before Jones took the city's helm, Chesterfield saw four of five supervisors replaced.

"I think our board is more willing to discuss with the city issues in general, and the city seems to have opened up some with regard to their willingness to talk to the county," he said.

Stegmaier agreed, adding that he has seen increased communication at all levels of government.

"The atmosphere has changed in the past year or so in the sense that there's a feeling that the leadership in the city of Richmond is making regional cooperation a higher priority now than it has in the past," Stegmaier said.

Jones could not be reached last week for comment.

While major collaborations have yet to materialize, Gecker and Graziano are making progress on the small stuff, they say.

Recently, when operational issues arose over Bon Air Library, a joint city-county facility, the two worked them out.

"Kathy and I were able through this vehicle to discuss them and resolve them before they became a big deal," Gecker said.

Graziano said they are discussing the possibility of a joint city-county vocational school and ways to link Chesterfield's Cloverleaf Mall redevelopment project with the city's plans for the area just across Chippenham Parkway.

"We feel like there should be some kind of coordination between the localities in terms of how these projects that border one another are going to interact," she said.

Recently, Powhatan County Supervisor Joe Walton joined the biweekly sessions. His district also borders Gecker's.

"I think regional cooperation is probably better started in these small ways," Walton said. "Talking about big things like a ballpark are great, but it starts with each us sitting down and talking, understanding where each person is coming from and what their issues are."

Gecker agreed. "The region has focused on this concept of regional cooperation," he said. "But in fact, we are able to get more done, I think, and have more common interest in these bilateral relationships -- us with the city, us with Powhatan -- because we share the common border, et cetera."

And while larger venues such as the Capital Region Collaborative and the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission continue to work on issues like high-speed rail, water resources, housing and work-force development, personal relationships foster progress.

Stegmaier said knowing one another and opening up helps drive the spirit of competition away from the localities and focus it regionally.

"We're competing with other regions of the state -- most notably Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads -- and it's important that the region develop cohesive positions on critical issues that are going to be decided by the legislature or the governor," he said.

Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or whester@timesdispatch.com.