EDA ponders separate future legal representation; elects new officers

At right, Dan Whitten’s pending departure to another county will create a County-EDA legal vacuum at an inopportune time. Royal Examiner Photos/Roger Bianchini. Video by Mark Williams, Royal Examiner.

At its monthly meeting of August 23 the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority Board of Directors discussed future legal representation in the wake of County and EDA Attorney Dan Whitten’s pending departure for the county attorney’s job in Prince George County.

The County-EDA legal situation is further complicated by Assistant County Attorney Caitlin Jordan’s giving birth the previous day and being on maternity leave through mid-October. Whitten’s last day here is September 13.

The potential of separating the County and EDA’s legal counsel also came up at the EDA Reform Committee meeting four days earlier. The issue of potential County and EDA legal conflicts of interest has been a topic of public and municipal discussion in the wake of the EDA financial fraud investigation and consequent civil litigation.

County Administrator Doug Stanley told the EDA the County is looking for an interim solution pending the hiring of a permanent replacement for Whitten and that dual representation for such a short-term hire could be problematic in the current legal situation.

Two or one attorneys in the future – that is one question facing Warren County and the EDA in coming months, County Administrator Doug Stanley acknowledged.

EDA Board member Ed Daley said independent EDA legal counsel could be a viable solution short term that could end up pointing to a longer term arrangement.

Whitten suggested the EDA seek a contractual rate for a set amount of time, rather than an hourly rate on its legal services. Stanley noted the RSW Jail Authority had such a contractual arrangement with outside counsel at $30,000 per year that was believed to be a cost saver over the long term.

The county administrator noted that part of the justification of moving former County Attorney Doug Napier, now Town Attorney, from part time to full time, was the added work of representing the EDA legally.

A board consensus was to pursue independent representation in the short term at the best financial terms available and see how that experience contributed to the discussion of a long-term legal solution for the EDA and County.

Gray Blanton draws laughter as he taps out after a year as EDA Board Chairman – but will Ed Daley, black sports coat, and Jeff Browne still be smiling after a year as chair and vice chair, respectively?

At the August monthly meeting Board Chair Gray Blanton also said that after a year at the helm he was ready to relinquish the chairmanship. It was observed that Blanton may have not known what he was getting himself into when after about a year on the board he volunteered to take the helm after Greg Drescher’s resignation as chairman last August. As previously reported here, Drescher resigned on August 24, 2018, one day after town officials confronted him, then EDA Executive Director Jennifer McDonald and EDA counsel about years of debt service overpayments by the Town to the EDA.

The EDA board then unanimously elected Ed Daley as chairman; Jeff Browne as vice chairman; and Jorie Martin as secretary; with Tom Patteson re-elected board treasurer.

See these discussions and appointments, as well as the rest of the EDA board discussion of its direction forward in the wake of the financial turmoil surrounding it in this Royal Examiner video: