Highland County Board Of Supervisors November Meetings – Pt.1
The following is art 1 of a 2-part story on the November regular meeting and work session of the Highland County Board of Supervisors.
Prior to their regular meeting on November 6th, Supervisors Henry Budzinski and Harry Sponaugle were served with notification of civil lawsuits filed by fellow Supervisor Paul Trible and wife Debbie for defamation and trade and business injury in the amount of $4,200,000. This could have been a spark for the fireworks which went off later in the meeting.
In the first item under new business, Mr. Trible explained that Mr. Budzinski had submitted a FOIA request for his county e-mails, and after complying, he was removing himself from the e-mail system, and contact would be by phone only. Mr. Budzinski started to clarify, to which Mr. Trible questioned whether they really wanted to get into this discussion. When Mr. Budzinski attempted to move forward, Mr. Trible then read his entire statement, explaining that the Board’s recent letter to the State Compensation Board opposing granting full-time status and salary to the Commonwealth’s Attorney, which he opposed sending, still had his name on it, despite his having told County Attorney Melissa Dowd that he did not wish to be included. When Ms. Dowd attempted to clarify with an explanation, he refused to let her speak. He then further explained that he had sent his own letter to the Compensation Board, completely outside of the County system. Mr. Budzinski asked that Mr. Trible provide a copy of this letter to the rest of the Board, Ms. Dowd, and interim county administrator Jerri Botkin, which he did not, having no copy of it. Mr. Budzinski then sent a FOIA request for all of Mr. Trible’s e-mails to elected officials during his time on the Board. Mr. Trible ended his statement re-iterating he would no longer use the County e-mail system as long as Mr. Budzinski was on the Board, and then said Mr. Budzinski could say what he wanted.
Mr. Budzinski asked Ms. Dowd to clarify, but when she began explaining that Mr. Trible’s name was included because it was on the County letterhead, which includes all three supervisors, and is customary, Mr. Trible interrupted her, and Mr. Sponaugle took issue with that. The ensuing verbal exchange was so loud that the sound equipment cut out for the virtual feed, but it was obvious that Mr. Sponaugle objected to his not allowing Ms. Dowd to speak. Some portions which were audible included Mr. Trible saying he and Ms. Dowd would have a conversation whether Mr. Sponaugle wanted them to or not, and Mr. Sponaugle replying he had never served on a board where such things happened, and the county was nothing but a laughingstock anymore. He said Ms. Dowd could either speak her piece, or the meeting could be closed, to which Mr. Trible moved to continue the meeting until their next scheduled event. After a long pause, Mr. Sponaugle agreed, and the meeting closed.
Two days later, Ms. Dowd announced her decision to retire as county attorney, effective December 31st.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this story which will cover other business from the two meetings.
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