EDA prioritizes open, honest conduct

EDA Special Meeting of August 30, 2019. Director Dr Tom Patterson listens in via conference call. Photo and video by Mark Williams, Royal Examiner.

FRONT ROYAL — In the name of transparency, the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority (EDA) Board of Directors during its Aug. 30 special meeting addressed term limits for elected officers, reactivated its Assets Management Committee, and agreed to bring historical documents into the 21st century.

EDA Director Marjorie “Jorie” Martin proposed changing the EDA’s bylaws to impose term limits on board officers, specifically the positions for chairman, vice chairman, secretary, assistant secretary and treasurer.

Pointing out that some EDA chairmen previously served in their positions for as long 15 years, Martin said, “I don’t think that’s healthy for any organization. I think there should be changes in term limits.”

She proposed a resolution to establish term limits for officers that would be temporary until the bylaws are revised. After some discussion, the board members unanimously adopted the resolution to amend the bylaws to limit officers to two-year terms and, while officers may move between positions, they would not be allowed to serve more than four years consecutively.

Martin called the action a good step toward rotating board officers, as well as increasing openness for the public.

“It’s an important reform,” said Jeff Browne, EDA Vice Chairman.

Warren County Attorney Dan Whitten said the action serves as the required 10-days notice the EDA must provide prior to revising its bylaws, which could be done during its Sept. 27 regular meeting.

EDA Chairman Ed Daley (L) and EDA Executive Director Doug Parsons (R) listen as Greg Harold outlines the framework regarding asset management.

In EDA action on another new business agenda item, board members reactivated the Assets Management Committee, which EDA Director Greg Harold said would handle the EDA’s physical — not financial —assets.

“I’ve developed a framework for the Assets Management Committee and that framework really revolves around clarifying assets because assets take many different forms,” Harold explained Friday morning. “This is really physical assets, such as any real property we might own or other physical assets.”

The committee, he said, has a “whole list of activities and responsibilities” for what it will be monitoring, including physical asset acquisition, inspection and disposition, as well as site inspections, risk mitigation, and ensuring that current EDA assets are in compliance with the authority’s strategic plan, among others.

“This is really a needed committee in this organization,” said Harold. “It would behoove the board to approve this committee as it is presented.”

And the members did approve its reactivation, with Browne asking to “tag along” during committee site inspections to learn more about the properties.

For the sake of increased transparency in EDA actions, Harold also publicly stated the goal of the Assets Management Committee, which he will chair.

“I want the community to understand that as we review these properties for acquisition and disposition that there is absolutely a process in place,” he said. “There is a due diligence period and there are due diligence activities that this committee will be performing to make a recommendation to the board to make sure we’re dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s.

“I also want the public and the board to be aware of the fact that when we dispose of an asset, it’s not always about the purchase price; it’s not always about the disposition price,” Harold said.

“It’s about the long-term return on investment for the community and that involves many factors.”

Some of those factors, Harold said, involve the type of industry; the stability of the industry; the number of employees that will be brought in; “the income tapestries” that the employees are going to be bringing to the community; the machinery and taxes; and the expansion opportunities, etc.

“We’re taking the long position on some of these assets,” said Harold. “We have to make sure that as we entertain offers on these properties, that they’re the best fit for the community and they’ll provide a great return on the investment that’s not only reflective of the sales price.”

The sales price is strictly a data point, he said, adding that “there’s so much more behind it that needs to be evaluated.”

As its first order of business, EDA  Chairman Edwin “Ed” Daley requested that the Assets Management Committee review both the EDA’s Afton Inn and proposals for its Baugh Drive property.

In other action, EDA members unanimously confirmed an approved $7,365-expenditure to ScansAmerica, which scanned and digitized 36 boxes of EDA historical documents.

“We’re just confirming what we already told Doug [Parsons] to do for the sake of transparency,” Daley told members, referring to the EDA’s executive director.

Parsons said the documents now will be searchable by optical character recognition, or OCR, which is the electronic conversion of typed, handwritten or printed text images.

Such enhanced searchability, Parsons said, will help the EDA comply with a subpoena from a Warren County special grand jury related to the investigation and lawsuits around the alleged financial fraud and embezzlement by former EDA members. Fulfilling Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests also will be easier, added Parsons.

“We can now provide these documents in a timely fashion,” said Parsons.

During a closed session, EDA members discussed several items, including considering whether to acquire real property “for a public purpose,” according to the agenda, or to dispose of a publicly held property. The discussion was to be limited to properties located on Main Street, in Stephens Industrial Park and Happy Creek Industrial Park, and on Fairgrounds Road.

Those same locations also were discussed during the closed session and concerned “a prospective business or industry or expansion of an existing business or industry where no previous announcement has been made … in locating or expanding its facilities in the community,” according to the agenda.

Another EDA special meeting is slated for Sept. 10.

The Royal Examiner’s camera was there to capture this special meeting: