Specter of EDA financial scandal permeates County’s first June meeting

It was a solemn Warren County Board of Supervisors that met the day after former Sheriff Daniel McEathron’s funeral. Royal Examiner Photos/Roger Bianchini

The discontented and now mournful mood of this community was reflected Tuesday morning, June 4, as the Warren County Board of Supervisors held its first meeting and work session of the month.

At the meeting’s outset Board Chairman Dan Murray asked, as he has at recent meetings, for those who cared to, to stand for a moment of thoughtful or prayerful silence seeking a healing within the community from the sometimes bitter division that has arisen in the wake of the Economic Development Authority financial scandal. But there was one particularly painful addition to this request – that one day after his funeral the County’s sheriff of 16 years, Danny McEathron, and his family be remembered in those thoughts and prayers.

A huge crowd jammed Riverton United Methodist Church Monday afternoon to say farewell to McEathron in the wake of his May 28th death.

On a day one civil co-defendant dies, McDonald denied criminal case bond

Stemming from his professional involvement with former EDA Executive Director Jennifer McDonald in real estate business and a proposed criminal justice training academy to be constructed on EDA-owned land, the recently-retired McEathron was one of nine defendants named in the EDA civil litigation filed March 26, and was among those questioned by the special grand jury empanelled to explore potential criminal activity related to the EDA civil litigation.

Sheriff, ITFed principal Tran, Donnie Poe named with McDonald in EDA civil suit

During the County Administrator’s report Doug Stanley remembered McEathron’s valuable contributions to past County Capital Improvement Projects including the RSW Regional Jail, as well as his commitment to improved public school security through the assignment and funding of additional sheriff’s office school resource officers in the wake of the Marjorie Stoneman-Douglas High School shooting in Florida.

Murray later became emotional during his chairman’s report as he announced that due to family health issues, among them his own recent cardiac procedure, he would not be seeking a third term on the board in the upcoming November election.

Murray has taken the point in fielding and sometimes shielding his board and county staff from sometimes personally-tinged criticism over oversight failures related to the EDA situation. Perhaps fortuitously on this particular day, no public speakers appeared to address the board about the EDA or anything else Tuesday morning.

Dan Murray was emotional in announcing he would not seek reelection this year due to myriad family and personal health issues.

In a somewhat lighter mood at a post-meeting work session during U.S. Census Bureau community Partnership Specialist Alvenia McQueen’s presentation, Murray quipped, “She doesn’t live around here,” when McQueen suggested board members would be good community liaisons in the 2020 census process due to the level of trust their elected positions reflected.

In another EDA-related meeting exchange, Vice-Chairman Tom Sayre asked new EDA Executive Director Doug Parsons about the status of the Afton Inn redevelopment process in the wake of a freeze on work by development group 2 East Main Street LLC. That freeze came after “Afton Inn Embezzlements” were included in the civil litigation list of projects allegedly utilized to misdirect EDA assets. While the 2 East Main Street group is not said to have been involved in that misdirection, the use of allegedly forged project invoices to move EDA money to non-sanctioned uses by the former executive director has stalled Afton Inn work.

Parsons, on the job since May 8, responded to Sayre’s question by stating it “is certainly the goal” of the EDA to move the Afton Inn redevelopment project forward. However Parsons noted that the amount of money the EDA owes the 2 East Main Street group and/or its subcontractors was “substantial”.

“Before we pay them … we have to make sure we are within the law in doing so,” the EDA executive director explained.

EDA Executive Director Doug Parsons said it is the EDA’s hope to move forward with the Afton Inn redevelopment project, but first has to figure out legal issues surrounding a ‘substantial’ amount of payments due to project developer 2 East Main St. LLC.

And in final EDA-related actions, following a closed session the board unanimously voted to first, raise the cap on legal fees to the Sands-Anderson law firm handling the EDA civil litigation from $300,000 to $500,000; and then to authorize the transfer of $50,000 to the EDA to pay accounting audit and investigative consultant Cherry Bekaert for its services. If our calculating is accurate those increases raise the total amount of money spent on the EDA financial investigation and resulting litigation to $1.01 million dollars.

In its civil litigation the EDA is seeking “at least a million dollars” in punitive damages, as well as attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses, in addition to the minimum $17.6 million in alleged misdirected assets.

The Royal Examiner’s camera was there and captured the Reports from EDA Director Doug Parsons, Town Manager Joe Waltz, Director of Social Services DeAnna Cheatham as well as comments from the Board and Chairman Dan Murray statement about his political future. Also includes reports from County Administrator Doug Stanley and County Attorney Dan Whitten.