HALIFAX, Virginia – Closed Halifax County Board of Supervisors meetings have been a hot topic in recent months.
Early in August, the board voted to hire an emergency interim county administrator and finance director at a cost of more than $25,000 per month after it had dismissed the former administrator earlier in the month.
During the August 25 meeting when Tomeka Morgan was hired for a monthly rate of $25,500, the board went into a closed session to discuss it. The board also went into a closed session during the August 4 meeting when it dismissed former County Administrator Scott Simpson.
And at its September 22 meeting, the board again went into a 40-minute closed session to discuss hiring a permanent county administrator.
In the days following Simpson’s firing, Board of Supervisors member Larry Roller Jr. expressed his displeasure with the process.
“It’s not being transparent to the public,” Roller told WSET-TV. Roller, who is up for re-election in November, was one of the three board members to vote against Simpson’s termination. “I don’t understand how one person can do the job duties that are full-time when she’s (Morgan) there basically two days a week. It just does not add up.”
Another board member who voted against the firing told WSET he asked Board Chairman W. Bryant Claiborne why Simpson was being fired.
“I asked why, and I couldn’t get a response,” Robbie Smart said. “In fact, I was flat out ignored.”
Smart said Claiborne and Vice Chairman Stanley Brandon are part of a five-member voting bloc. Brandon’s seat is on the November ballot as well as he has announced last month he won’t seek re-election. Monte Thompson and James Gordon are seeking that seat.
“There’s a group of five of the supervisors who banded together to pursue their own agenda versus the needs of the county,” Smart told WSET. “The only thing I think we reasonably can do is focus on upcoming November elections.”
Roller agreed.
“I’m hopeful that we’ll have a good election, and we will be able to reverse this trend,” he told WSET.