EDA board approves changes to its operational bylaws

The EDA board, pictured here at its August meeting, has approved discussed changes to its bylaws. Photo/Roger Bianchini

At its meeting of October 27, the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority approved revisions to the bylaws by which it operates.  Those changes have been on the table for several months and have been a topic of conversation at a September 5 work session of the county board of supervisors.  As EDA Board Chairman Greg Drescher explained at that work session, the EDA board was seeking input from the county on its suggested changes.  Drescher and EDA Executive Director Jennifer McDonald represented the EDA at that work session.

As reported in previous Royal Examiner coverage, included in the now-approved bylaw changes are the addition of a reason for the potential removal of a board member; and authorization for board members to participate in meetings from a remote location by electronic means.  The new reason for potential dismissal is a failure to file a financial disclosure form as required by state law – Virginia Code Section 2.2-3115 (A).

As a result of that September work session discussion, the “governing body” – the county board of supervisors – will be responsible for voting on that removal.   At that work session, Happy Creek Supervisor Tony Carter observed such a vote of dismissal might be more difficult for the EDA board in disciplining one of its own members.

The impetus for the addition of a remote, electronic voting presence appeared to be the participation of Jim Eastham in the August 25 EDA Board meeting by conference call.  And while Eastham, who passed away on November 17 after a bout with cancer, was allowed to listen in to the discussion of agenda items, he was not allowed to actively participate or vote on them.  That will now change for board members at up to two meetings annually under prescribed conditions.

Those conditions include advance notice of the member’s inability to physically attend for personal, emergency or health reasons; a record in the meeting minutes of the reason the member was not physically present; the member participating remotely must be audible to all in attendance at the meeting; and a board quorum must be physically present for the meeting to be held.

The addition of a failure to file a legally-required financial disclosure being added to the list of potential reasons for dismissal came in the wake of a failure of two board members to do so at the outset of this year.  One was new member Brendon Arbuckle, who was appointed to replace William Sealock after he was elected to the Front Royal Town Council; the other long-time member Ron Llewellyn.  Both consequently filed the disclosures to come into compliance with state law.  Arbuckle has since resigned from the board after taking a new job that relocated him out of state.

Existing reasons for potential dismissal of a member include “Failure to abide by lawful decisions or policies which have been established by the Board by a majority vote” and “Failure to keep confidential any of the following:

1. Any information concerning a prospective business or industry or expansion of an existing business or industry where no previous announcement has been made of the business or industry’s interest in the locating or expanding its facilities in the community;
2. Confidential information discussed in closed session as authorized by Virginia Code Section 2.2-3700, et seq.;
3. Any information not required to be disclosed by the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Virginia Code Section 2.2-3700, et seq) and not voted to be disclosed by a majority vote of the Board.”