Highland Business Owners Accuse EDA Official of Conflict of Interest, Gatekeeping

The July 27^th Highland County Economic Development Authority monthly meeting was pretty routine, but things changed quickly when Board Chair Arron Thaler announced they had reached the public speaking portion of the meeting.

Speakers Valentina Meehan of The Highlander Restaurant and husband-and-wife team Jeff Newton and Holly Hughes of Virginia Backcountry Cabins in Lower Back Creek, accused the EDA’s Economic Development Officer and Treasurer, Betty Mitchell, of conflict of interest and gatekeeping.

Mitchell is not a board member, but volunteers for the board. She also heads the Blue Grass Resource Corporation, a non-profit that bought the Highland Inn and is overseeing the restoration of the historic hotel.

Hughes was the first to speak, saying she was very disappointed in the process she’s had to endure since she applied to fill an EDA board seat last November. Apparently her original one-page application and two-page resume were not forwarded to the board. She was then informed in a June 15^th email she would have to apply again by filling out the new 4-page application.

Hughes raised the issue of gatekeeping, directing her statement toward Mitchell, who collects applications and forwards them to the board.

“I’m happy to keep my current application and resume on file here and if the board wants to make an exception and consider it, I would highly encourage it, but I’m kind of done with jumping through hoops. Frankly, at this point, I was thinking I better serve my own business in this community by looking from the outside in. So, if you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them. But I just to relay to the board that you were not aware that my application was even here at the meeting you had last November and that strikes me as a real problem. Emails and communications are going through one person and whether they go forward to the board is the discretion of that person. That’s a real problem with me,” Hughes told board members.

Newton was up next, explaining the obstacles he and his wife faced after the EDA awarded them a new business incentive grant of $5,000, which they planned to use to pay for the first-year cost of an on-line reservation booking service. Newton ended up telling the EDA to keep its money after constantly being questioned about his cabin rental business when the grant was to pay only for reservation booking service.

Newton then accused Mitchell of having a conflict of interest, citing her roles in the Highland Inn restoration.

“There’s conflicts of interest, I’m sorry Betty, I don’t want to be personal about it. People are telling us the Tourism grant wasn’t available to us because we were not open yet. As if grants aren’t awarded until someone is open? Preposterous! Is the Highland Inn open yet? Do you guys get grants? It was just excuse after excuse. And so, I just want to say…I covered these types of meetings as a career before I was in television. I’ve never seen such clear conflicts of interest before. And you guys are losing the will of the community to participate. It’s not just us, it’s other people, who think this board is combat ineffective and I’m sorry to say that. And the reason we’re here, and we’re not asking for your money. The  reason I declined the money in the end, is I got sick and tired of all the phone calls and obstacles about stupid things that had nothing to do with what we were applying for,” Newton said.

Meehan also raised the conflict-of-interest issue when she addressed the board.

“What I would like to say is, I would love to be a part of this board, and so right now I don’t think it’s good time to be part of this board. So, I would strongly encourage you, to piggy back on Holly’s speech, to look into your volunteers for board to look into the conflict of interest. To give you an example, because if Betty was to fill out an application today, she would be in a direct conflict of interest, given that the Highland Inn is a strategic, number one priority for the county, and for economic development and for being on the board, and sometimes our emails go in spam or they get blocked and they don’t hear from us for months. That creates a conflict on interest. I strongly encourage you to look into that and maybe get a different volunteer so you don’t have that public perception happening. Maybe that would easier. So, with that said, I don’t know how I could contribute with the current board, but in the future, I would love to do something. Right now, I’ll stay in the private sector,” Meehan told board members.

The board went into closed session after hearing from the public. When they emerged, Mitchell said board members decided to forward the names of three prospective members to county supervisors for appointment. They include Robin Sullenberger and Jessica Glendinning, both former EDA board members. The third prospective member is Jeff Purdue, the current director of the Highland Tourism Council.

The board also agreed to have Thaler reach out to Hughes and ask her to complete the new application so the board could review it at its next meeting in August.

During a July 28^th phone interview, Mitchell defended herself, saying, “It comes with the territory.”

Regarding the conflict-of-interest accusations, Mitchell noted she is volunteer for the board and is not allowed to cast a vote.

Mitchell also addressed the gatekeeping accusation raised by Hughes, saying she had mentioned Hughes’ application to Thaler. The board decided in December to hold onto filed applications until the board members voted on the proposal to downsize the board from 7 to 5 members. The board approved downsizing the board in June.