The Shadow
Happy Spring everyone! The flowers are blooming and the trees near the Covington Farmer’s Market are exploding with their spring welcome. And hopefully, your body clock isn’t too out of whack with the Daylight Savings Time change.
Since the Shadow’s return to the Virginian Review, one alarming, recurring comment has been received from more than a dozen citizens reaching out to express their concerns and opinions.
“Watch out, Retaliation is Real.”
Everyone knows operating above the law is, well, illegal. However, when you mix bullying, favoritism, and retaliation from public servants against citizens exercising their right to question and understand the city’s conduct and actions, a whole new level of autocracy appears. Such behavior most likely indicates a municipality veering out of control, no longer able to serve its citizens’ best interests.
Last week, Kyla Crosier resigned from her position as City Clerk, effective March 15, 2024, thus ending a controversial conflict of interest situation due to her direct relationship with the Vice Mayor. One key pertinent question at hand was why the City Clerk chose to route the city’s advertising notices to the Recorder in Highland County rather than to the Virginian Review, the local newspaper just a couple blocks away from City Hall that has been serving Covington since 1914. Ms Crosier admitted, “I chose to do business with the one who actually acts with integrity and morals.”
Did she just admit she was acting with above-the-law favoritism?
VA Law requires municipalities to adhere to clear public procurement rules. They do not grant power to a City Clerk to make an individual choice. Secondly, selecting a vendor based completely on one’s own subjective opinion is not a legal transaction, it is a simple tool of favoritism. Perhaps she was confused thinking the City is a private corporation instead of a public institution? Thirdly, VA laws are very clear on “Personal interest in a contract” where an officer or employee is prohibited from having a personal interest in a business that is a party to the contract. Simply put, the City Clerk has a direct relationship with the Vice Mayor, who also happens to be the Alleghany Editor for the Recorder. Sounds cozy…and most likely against the law.
This is not a question of the Virginian Review complaining about lost revenue. The number of advertisements the city places over the year is relatively small.The issue here is about the city’s mandated requirement to notify as many citizens as possible within their city’s service area.
Approximately 1,800 of Virginian Review’s 3,000 subscribers are based directly in the City’s 24426 zip code alone.The Recorder has 3,500 subscribers, serving predominately in Highland and Bath Counties since 1877.Simple math will tell you that it is highly unlikely that 50% of the Recorder’s subscribers in Highland and Bath counties recently abandoned their subscriptions, but then the Recorder magically gained more than 1,800 subscribers directly in the City’s 24426 zip code almost overnight.
The point here is, that because of apparent personal favoritism and ignoring VA Law, our City Clerk denied the right of thousands of readers directly in the local area to be notified about the mandated notices for contracts, requests for proposals, employment opportunities, and other city advertisements.
But she didn’t stop there. The City Clerk further exacerbated the situation and retaliated by personally attacking and disparaging the owner of the Virginian Review and the Shadow for their right to request documentation under the Freedom of Information Act of public records. Va Code 2.2-3103 states it is illegal to use a public position to retaliate or threaten to retaliate against any person for expressing views on matters of public concern or for exercising any right that is otherwise protected by law. And if it couldn’t get any worse, the Vice Mayor joined the City Clerk to further the attack, stating very personal and disparaging comments against the owner of the Virginian Review and the Shadow.
Retaliation is real. So is the Law.
I can’t even begin to imagine how a community accepts and condones retaliation as a method of governance. Maybe in the “do whatever the heck you want” days of the Wild West it worked. But the “City” of Covington is a municipality charted by a set of rules requiring its public servants to conduct the city’s business impartially, transparently, and for the benefit of the community. Seems this type of behavior potentially echoes a much deeper problem of our public servants failing to observe and ignore basic procedural compliance they took an oath to uphold.
In the, “What the heck did we just see?” corner, last week the City Council quietly passed amendments to “clarify some typographical errors in the original agreement” or changes to the Local Economic Development Performance agreement. Did you realize this was the controversial 410 Main Street Performance Agreement?From stumbling over words, and a “ya’all know what this is?” from the Mayor and the council members stating they were “on it”, it seemed like a scene right out of a Cloak and Dagger movie.
Oh my, professional duty prompts me to examine this burgeoning phenomenon. Does it seem to you that the city attorney and the Mayor are apparently trying to make something go away by obfuscation?Like the question; what happens if the other two partners entitled to the building as stipulated in the original option and performance agreements call foul, and it is found that indeed they own 50% of the building? It appears that other council members were also hesitant about exploring further into the matter, leading to a consensus on a decision that could potentially affect the ownership of the other partners within the organization.
But there’s been a new twist in our ongoing 410 saga. Seems that the failure to observe overall mandated procedural compliance just might rear its ugly head and make a total mess of the situation. The Shadow research team has uncovered new evidence that just might make a few blood vessels explode. Stay tuned.
In the “Credit where Credit’s due” kudos column, the Shadow also recognizes the sincere efforts of folks doing the right thing for the health, safety, and benefit of the community. Kudos to Allen Dressler for taking charge of the city’s building department and getting his officials certified and in compliance. Kudos to the owners of 410 Main Street building for obtaining additional permits and inspections to ensure the public’s safety. Kudos to Allen Dressler and Mayor Sibold for stating they will now send public advertisements to both the Virginian Review and the Recorder.
The biggest kudos and hats off goes to the Facebook Shadow Group. It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen and enjoyed such grace and civility between folks previously divided through liberal and conservative viewpoints. It brings me hope that we are not a community divided, rather we are citizens united, choosing to discuss, debate, brainstorm, and openly work together to find the solutions that are negatively impacting our local community. Yes, democracy is messy, but it is this freedom that allows us to recognize and tackle our community’s problems face on, and create change. Together.
I’m out of time, out of coffee, but never out of hope that through all the messiness of finding the truth through fact, our city can change, heal, and operate like the first-class city that it is designed to be.
