ISLE OF WIGHT—A retired mill worker and part-time produce farmer joins the list of candidates running for the Carrsville seat on the Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors.

Joe Joyner, 61, joins Tom Gaskell, Ben Rideout and Rex Alphin in a bid for a four-year seat, which pays $11,744 annually. All are running as Independents. Current supervisor Kenneth Bunch is not running.

Joyner, a 40-year county resident from 31334 Walters Highway, hopes to bring more fiscal responsibility to the board. He hopes to be a voice for people who are struggling.

“I want to give a voice to the people who go up (to the meetings) and not just give them lip service,” Joyner said. “I think the board should be able to ask questions of citizens in order to get the best available information on an issue.”

Joyner also does not support building a new middle school in Windsor and would have preferred if supervisors would’ve spent the $350,000 for plans on the new school to fix the old one.

“I still support repairing the old school,” he said.

Joyner said the new school issue is the most critical part of fiscal responsibility. He said the county should’ve maintained the old school to avoid building a new school.

Joyner would also like to see the county give additional tax incentives to companies that hire residents.

“People living there and working there have a stake,” Joyner said. “People who drive in from 50 miles away don’t.”

He said he would like to allow property owners to lock into a tax rate that changes when the property or house is sold or modifications are made. This way a tax bill would not inflate every time there is a reassessment.

The county’s use of Virginia Auction Co. to seize vehicles to settle personal property tax debts has also raised the ire of the candidate.

Joyner has no problem with collecting back taxes, but would prefer to see it revert back to a system of liens and sheriff’s sales.

Joyner’s wife, Sandra, is a nurse at Southampton Memorial Hosptial. They have one son and three grandchildren.

Joyner spent 20 years working for Union Camp before becoming general manager at a Norbord medium-density fiberboard plant in New York.

Joyner now spends his days as a “semi-retired” produce farmer growing melons and fruit trees.

“It started as a hobby, but it’s a hobby that has gone berserk,” Joyner said. “I love everything about the farming life.”