The Mathews County Board of Supervisors voted last week to contract with an outside agency, The Berkley Group, to search for a new county administrator. In addition, the company will provide an interim county administrator to handle day-to-day operations until a new administrator is appointed by the board. Current County Administrator Mindy Conner will retire at the end of July.

On Wednesday morning, Conner announced that longtime James City County Administrator Sanford “Sandy” Wanner will serve as interim county administrator. Wanner had previously served in that capacity in Gloucester County in 2015 following the resignation of county administrator Brenda Garton.

According to paperwork handed out prior to the June 22 meeting, The Berkley Group will be paid a lump sum of $30,000 to conduct the search for a new county administrator, which is expected to take no more than 120 days. The interim county administrator will be on-site for 32 hours per week at the rate of $75 an hour and provide off-site support as needed.

The decision to contract with The Berkley Group was not unanimous. The board voted 3-2 to enter into closed session in order to discuss the personnel matter, with supervisors Paul Hudgins and Jackie Ingram voting against. Hudgins requested to make a substitute motion to table an agreement with The Berkley Group and to instead advertise locally for a new county administrator, but the motion died for lack of a second.

Hudgins and Ingram did not participate in the closed session. When the meeting reopened and the vote was taken, the decision to enter into the agreement was unanimous among the three participating board members—chairman Mike Rowe and supervisors Amy Dubois and Melissa Mason—while Hudgins voted nay and Ingram abstained from voting.
Government bodies are not required to discuss personnel matters in public under the Freedom of Information Act. They are also not required to discuss contract negotiations if discussion in open session would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body. Copies of the proposed contract were handed out prior to the meeting by Dave Jones, who stated that Ingram had requested that they be distributed.

During public comment period, Jones, who is running for a seat on the board in the upcoming election, asserted that Deputy County Administrator Julie Kaylor is experienced and has a strong governmental background, and that she could serve as interim county administrator. He said that the incoming board has a right to determine who the new county administrator will be, that it should be a local person, and that any county administrator appointed now may be terminated by the new board.

“There are three of you on the board who want to hire whoever you want,” he said. “They will be fired.”

During public comment, Kaylor requested permission to address the board, saying, “I do not appreciate my personal information being brought up for a position I’m not qualified for, nor do I seek.” She asked that she not be considered for the position during closed session.

In telephone interviews, Hudgins and Ingram explained why they did not participate in the closed session. Hudgins said that the three board members who eventually voted to approve the contract would have taken the action regardless of what he or Ingram had to say.

Ingram said that she had requested that the board meet to discuss the county administrator position shortly after Conner announced her retirement in May because she had been told by a constituent that the board needed to interview at least four people for the position.

She said that Rowe had instead provided board members with information about an individual he suggested hiring on an interim basis.

“Mike is only one board member,” she said. “Why didn’t he include the other board members to ask what we think about hiring this firm? Single sourcing something as big as a county administrator’s job is totally inappropriate.”

Ingram said she didn’t want to go into closed session because “once you go into the meeting, the citizens don’t know what was said.” She said the job should have instead been advertised in the local newspaper, and the board should have interviewed the applicants.

Future meetings

As reported during last week’s article about the board of supervisors’ June meeting, the board voted 3-2 to continue meeting in the auditorium at Mathews High School for the remainder of the year. The decision was made based on a request by “a local organization,” according to Dubois, who made the motion. When asked during the meeting who had made the request, Dubois declined to provide the name of the organization. It was subsequently revealed that the request had been made by the Mathews branch of the NAACP.

In the letter, dated June 17, NAACP president Edith Turner stated that her organization had serious concerns about moving the meetings back into the historic courthouse, where they have always been held.

“While I appreciate the desire to get back to ‘normal’ operations,” said Turner in the letter, “now is not the time.”
Turner said that board meetings have become the venue for “expression of hateful vitriol against the members of the board and county staff,” with some people who attend the meetings behaving in ways that are “disruptive and disrespectful.” She said these people have an agenda that includes preserving the Confederate statue in front of the courthouse and that “their behavior can be intimidating.” People are known to carry weapons next to the Confederate statue, said Turner, which “can make it unfriendly to African-American residents and others who support civil rights.”

In addition, because there’s limited seating at the historic courthouse, people tend to congregate outside the door. Further, Turner asserted that the potential for violence is “heightened by the current debate over the location of the Confederate statue” in the run-up to the November election, when a referendum regarding its removal will be on the ballot.

Turner said that supervisors and staff can enter and exit the high school in a secure location, which is not the case at the historic courthouse.

Conner said the letter was not included in the June board packet because she had not received it in advance of the meeting. She also indicated that her name had been misspelled in an email sent by the NAACP.

Rowe said he didn’t know why the letter had not been included in the board packet prior to the meeting. He said it was emailed individually to him. He said he did not have the date of receipt available because he had misplaced his iPad. Rowe said further that in addition to the NAACP, a number of individual county residents had expressed concern about safety at the historic courthouse because of people who walk around the monument with firearms.

“Safety has to be one of the main factors with all the random shootings occurring everywhere,” he said.

In addition, Rowe said that local people had participated in the Jan. 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol, “which could create a safety issue here, as well.”

During public comment, Jones addressed Rowe, Dubois, and Mason, saying, “Thank you for declaring our historic courthouse unsafe.”

“You’re saying our sheriff’s department is inadequate to keep it safe,” he said. “I ask you to tell us which group made the request. I will make a FOIA request to find out. November’s coming.”

Dee Russell, who is also a candidate for the board, addressed the board on the matter, as well, saying that being at the high school allows more people to be inside in the air conditioning during the summer.

“I did not perceive you being here as the courthouse being threatened,” she said. “There are citizens who do not find it offensive.”