Sleeping with the enemy? After long closed session, EDA wonders if it should make 2 year-end reports

The Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority had an end of the fiscal year report from its committees at the regular monthly meeting on Friday morning, June 26. In addition to the status of its finances, assets, communications with related agencies, and executive committee business, the board elected officers for FY-2021. See the EDA office’s press release describing details of various actions taken regarding those reports in the related story below.

As for its officers, the EDA Board of Directors decided to stay the course for another year. On a motion by Tom Pattison, seconded by Jeff Brown after a check with EDA attorney Sharon Pandak that he could vote as one of the nominees, by a 5-0 vote, Gordon absent and Gray Blanton’s seat vacant, the board re-elected its sitting officers: Ed Daley chairman, Browne vice-chair, Jorie Martin treasurer, and Greg Harold secretary.

It was still a virtually conducted meeting for the EDA, which is fine with the media at 8 a.m. Royal Examiner Photos/Roger Bianchini

But before those reports, officer elections and new business are taken care of, five minutes after convening the 8 a.m. meeting the EDA board moved into closed session to discuss “the disposition of publicly held real property” including the Royal Lane so-called “Workforce Housing” parcel recently reacquired without the necessity of additional litigation, as well as discussion of the EDA’s resurrected small business loan program, and its two-pronged civil litigation.

As you “indoor sports fans” know, the first prong of that litigation is against its former Executive Director Jennifer McDonald and 24 co-defendants alleged to have conspired with her to misdirect, fraudulently obtain and/or embezzle $21.3 million of EDA assets. The second prong is the Town of Front Royal’s suit against the EDA. That suit alleges lost assets of over $20 million as a consequence of the EDA financial scandal. After three-hours-and-20 minutes behind closed doors, the board emerged without action or announcement and moved to the open meeting agenda.

The virtual presence of Sands Anderson civil case lead attorney Cullen Seltzer and his colleague Dan Siegel may have offered a clue as to which topic may have accounted for the largest time slot behind closed doors.

The re-tooled EDA board and staff at work in December 2019. From left at table are Tom Pattison, Chair Ed Daley, Greg Harold, Executive Director Doug Parsons, Vice-Chair Jeff Browne, Gray Blanton, and Jorie Martin, the latter two around the table from Browne. The board continues to morph with the addition of Melissa Gordon replacing Mark Baker and Gray Blanton’s recent departure.

“Without the necessity of additional litigation” – what a novel concept. Wonder if anyone in Town Hall has considered such an idea in lieu of an “all in” rather expensive legal gamble that every asset the EDA recovers is somehow owed to you – despite their lack of work on your behalf for over a decade publicly verbalized as justification to pull away from them toward the creation of a second EDA the Town would have full operational funding responsibility for, as opposed to none with the existing EDA?

The irony of still working for a town government that is claiming that essentially every penny the EDA is out to recover in its civil litigation should come to it directly or indirectly despite the above-referenced public claim by Councilman Gary Gillespie, undisputed by his colleagues, that the EDA hasn’t really worked on the Town’s behalf in 15 years, was apparent as the board discussed a fiscal year-end presentation to its sponsoring municipalities.

Should they present to the Town, as well as the County, Chairman Daley, and his board wonder? There appeared little enthusiasm for a presentation to town officials who have repeatedly rejected EDA offers of “good faith negotiations” to determine exactly what the EDA may owe the Town in misdirected assets. Once again the scheduled interim town manager’s monthly update to the EDA board on Town business was neither presented nor even submitted in writing despite the Town’s maintaining its co-founding EDA connection on a legally advised chance for asset distribution was the EDA to somehow fail, despite state codes that prevent EDA’s from declaring bankruptcy.

The Warren County Courthouse is casting a long shadow over relations between, not only the Town and EDA, but potentially between the Town and County, the latter of which has full operational funding responsibility for the existing EDA due to negotiations on double taxation responsibilities of town citizen. However, many including several council candidates are wondering if it is a necessary legal shadow.

And what might such a presentation to a municipal body that is claiming no oversight responsibility of the EDA despite enabling the largest single item in the EDA’s civil suit, the $10-million ITFederal loan, by issuing a three-month $10-million “bridge loan” at McDonald’s request to convince a bank to make that loan despite serious asset questions about the eventual recipient, sound like?

“Mr. Mayor and Council, the EDA ends the fiscal year with $85,089 in its operational checking account and another $62,936 in its rental income account ($148,025 combined) – BUT we’d have a lot more if the Town would make good on its undisputed $8.4 million principal debt to us on the construction of the new town police headquarters, not to mention the $701 of daily interest on that FRPD project debt, though a disputed portion based on verbal promises of the former EDA executive director, that is accumulating as the civil litigation creeps forward.

Also noted during the financial report of board Treasurer Jorie Martin, was a $64,439 balance in the EDA’s Rural Business Enterprise Loan (RBEL) account and a $307,043 balance in its Intermediary Relending Program (IRP) account.

Chances are some of those loan balances will find their way into the hands of businesses located inside the Front Royal town limits.

EDA’s June 26 meeting action agenda