Mayor: Kerry Devine is the current mayor of Fredericksburg.
City Council: Along with the mayor, Fredericksburg’s six-member City Council is responsible for things like creating and enacting policy, passing local ordinances, and approving the city’s annual budget and tax rates submitted by the City Manager. As part of its administrative role in City Governren:, city council appoints many local officials including the city manager, clerk of Council, City Attorney, and some men bers of citizen boards and commissions. Elections for ward and at-large councilors are staggered in two-year intervals.
Commonwealth’s Attorney: Fredericksburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Elizabeth “Libby” Humphries prosecutes criminal cases on behalf of citizens, similar to a District Attorney in other states. They are elected for four years and prosecute serious felonies like murder, rape, and robbery. In many areas, they also handle misdemeanors and local ordinance violations, including traffic offenses.
Clerk of the Circuit Court: The Circuit Court issues marriage licenses and concealed handgun permits, appoint ministers to perform marriages and handle all criminal cases, including felonies and misdemeanor appeals. For civil law, they have jurisdiction over cases involving $25,000 and above, and share jurisdiction with the General District Court for claims between $4,500 and $25,000. The Court also handles name changes, divorc-es, adoptions, church trustees, probate wills, and appoint and qualify guardians for adults or children as ordered by the court. Additionally, they can hear civil cases where the issue is between $500 and $10,000.
Commissioner of Revenue: The Office of the Commissioner of Revenue is a Constitutional office with a four-year elected term. They assist with assessments of business, vehicle, and real estate taxes and enforce statewide and county financial taxation laws.
Sheriff: The respective Sheriff’s Offices ensure equal protection under the law, maintain public peace, prevent crime, enforce laws and ordinances, apprehend criminals, and keep public places orderly. The sheriff also ensures safe traffic flow and cooperates with other law enforcement agencies.ensures safe traffic flow and cooperates with other law enforcement agencies.
Treasurer: The Treasurer’s Office collects and invests all revenue. Their main responsibilities fall into four cate-gories: collection and receipt of revenue, safekeeping of revenue, investment of revenue, and disbursement of funds. The office manages over 300 types of County receipts, with major collections including real estate tax, personal property tax, state income tax, consumer utility tax, vehicle license fees, dog license fees, permit fees, and water and sewer charges.
Board of Supervisors: The supervisors are elected by the residents every four years to represent different areas within the county. The Board enacts laws, sets policies, approves budgets for County services, and sets tax rates. It also appoints citizens to various boards, authorities, commissions, and committees.
City Attorney: The County Attorney is appointed by the Board of Supervisors and serves as its chief legal advi-sor. This office offers legal advice and representation to the Board of Supervisors, County Administrator, and County departments. It also provides legal support to Constitutional officers, the Registrar, and other Boards, Commissions, Committees, and Subcommittees created and appointed by the Board of Supervisors.
School Board: The school board is a corporate entity with all legal powers, duties, and responsibilities to engage in contracts, lawsuits, and property transactions. The board provides oversight for county public schools and enforces policy implementation.
Economic Development Authority: The EDA is an independent entity that supports business growth through financing, programs, and incentives. It assists new and existing businesses, boosts investment, and stimulates the economy.
Electoral Board: The Electoral Board ensures that all elections are conducted fairly and impartially, as required by the Constitution of Virginia.
Board of Zoning Appeals: The Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) handles appeals on zoning decisions and violations, grants variances and special exceptions, and imposes conditions on them related to the location, char-acter, and other features of proposed structures or uses as necessary for the public interest.
Architectural Review Board: The Architectural Review Board (ARB) oversees the preservation of historic sites within the County’s Historic Resource (HR) Overlay Districts. It consists of seven members, including at least one architect or architectural historian. The ARB encourages preservation through incentives, identifies new historic sites, provides guidelines, and reviews construction or renovations within historic districts. It also recommends sites for historic designation to the Board of Supervisors.
Citizen Board and Commissions
Citizen boards and commissions are an effective way for community members to participate in local government.
These bodies allow citizens to engage in the process and add insight on important issues to elected officials and City Staff by providing a wide variety of valuable technical, advisory, and administrative services to the City and its residents.
In Fredericksburg, there are approximately 30 local boards and commissions that address a wide range of issues. You can see the list of them with their descriptions HERE.
Most of these positions are filled on a volunteer basis and hold monthly meetings, although some meet more or less frequently.
Your local state delegation
General Assembly: Del. Josh Cole (D-Fredericksburg); Sen. Tara Durant (R-Stafford)
Interjurisdictional bodies (ornicials from several localities serve on these):
Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (FAMPO): The primary mission of FAMPO is to assist in developing regional transportation plans for Fredericksburg, including the City of Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, and Stafford County. FAMPO staff create a forum for local leaders, transportation professionals, and the public to address regional transportation needs, create federally required transportation planning documents, and, under the FAMPO Policy Committee’s direction, study transportation deficiencies and propose solutions.
George Washington Regional Commission (GWRC): The George Washington Regional Commission is a planning district commission for Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania, Stafford Counties and the City of Fredericksburg. The responsibility of the commission is to encourage cooperation of addressing local matters such as housing and transportation.
Currently, Fredericksburg does not belong to a regional transportation authority such as the ones that exist in northern and central Virginia. However, the city and neighboring jurisdictions have discussed forming such a body, which would pursue transportation projects impacting the entire Fredericksburg region.
