EDA plows toward future amidst multiple, evolving litigations

Ed Daley suggests the EDA move aggressively to determine exactly who is owed how much by whom related to various litigations. Walt Mabe, candidate for Board of Supervisors, Shenandoah District listens to the discussion.

The largely revamped, yet still embattled Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority held its October monthly meeting Friday morning, October 25.

The EDA board went through monthly Executive, Finance, Assets, and Communications Committee reports before getting an Executive Director’s report from Doug Parsons.

Two Board officer appointments were made and approval of the Greehan, Taves & Pandak Law Firm as the independent EDA legal counsel was finalized.

Into the meeting Board Chairman Ed Daley suggested the EDA move aggressively to determine exactly who is owed how much by whom related to the various litigations the EDA is involved in related to the Cherry Bekaert financial fraud investigation conducted from September 2018 into 2019.

The EDA civil litigation is seeking recovery of what has risen to $21.3 million allegedly misdirected or embezzled during the tenure of former Executive Director Jennifer McDonald. The Town of Front Royal has also filed a lawsuit against the EDA claiming “up to $15 million dollar” in misdirected or otherwise lost assets.

The Town also withdrew from a joint Town-County-EDA effort to smooth out future EDA operations and participation in an EDA Reform Committee, though both the EDA and County government continue to retool EDA operations.

See the monthly meeting updates, discussions and votes in this Royal Examiner video:

New EDA chief responds to Town concerns – ‘It’s just not the case’