Orange County Supervisors are backtracking after announcing the hire of a county administrator with no official vote.
Last week, Glenda Paul was announced as the county’s next administrator. Paul, who first came to the county in 2011 as the finance director, was appointed deputy county administrator in 2021 and has been serving as interim administrator since Ted Vorhees’ departure in June. In a county-issued press release Wednesday, Aug. 27, Paul was said to assume the role Sept. 1. The press release said District 1 Supervisor and board chairman Mark Johnson had announced the hire to senior leadership earlier that day.
“The board is very pleased that Glenda has agreed to remain in the role and continue to serve our residents,” he said in his remarks. “She is a hard worker, a great listener and someone who can get things done. We look forward to working with her and continuing to move Orange County forward.”
However, while the board of supervisors had entered into a closed session meeting Tuesday, Aug. 26 for the purpose of discussion or consideration of prospective candidates for the county administrator position, no vote on Paul’s hire was taken in open session. According to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), all votes of a public body must be taken and recorded in an open session. When asked about the matter, one supervisor questioned when a county administrator hire is ever voted on in open session. He referred members of the press to the county attorney who did not respond to a request for comment.
Meghan Ryne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said votes have to be taken in public and recorded in the meeting minutes. She referred to sections 2.2-3710 and 2.2-3711(B) of the Code of Virginia which state that “no resolution, ordinance, rule, contract, regulation or motion adopted, passed or agreed to in a closed meeting shall become effective unless the public body, following the meeting, reconvenes in an open meeting and takes a vote of the membership on such resolution, ordinance, rule, contract, regulation or motion that shall have its substance reasonably identified in the open meeting.”
On Thursday, Aug. 28, a new press release was issued by county officials stating the board had in fact discussed Paul’s “potential appointment as county administrator” and “unanimously supports moving forward” with that appointment. However, while the “decision to move forward was announced to staff and citizens,” contrary to the previous press release which said Paul would officially begin her new position Sept. 1, no contract had been signed or made official, with negotiations still underway.
According to the Aug. 28 release, “the board anticipates making Ms. Paul’s appointment and contract terms official through formal motions and votes at the Sept. 9 board meeting in open session, as required by law.”
Paul will continue to serve as interim administrator until the board takes formal action.
