Editor, The Smithfield Times:

In August, the Board of Supervisors decided to create a Financial Audit Committee to monitor the integrity of our county’s finances. However, on this committee are two members who have documented integrity issues while serving in public office, Dick Grice (attempting to silence a constituent through her employer) and Renee Rountree (the infamous sign-stealing incident, for which she still has failed to take responsibility for or publicly apologize). 

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Mrs. Rountree also wants the committee to make audio recordings of the committee meetings to help with the creation of minutes and then delete the recordings upon approval of the minutes (see the Sept. 5 Board of Supervisors work session). When emailed about video recording the meetings instead (the meetings occur in the same room that the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission meet and record), Mrs. Rountree only refers to her point that the county attorney says it’s legal to delete the recordings.  

For argument’s sake, let’s set aside the question, “Is deleting the tapes legal under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act?” A couple of better questions are:

• How does it serve the public interest to delete these tapes?
• Why is Renee Rountree so hell-bent on deleting the tapes?

Also, keep in mind that this committee meets at 4 p.m., so a large portion of the public can’t attend the meetings. I am not insinuating all of this is by design to hide nefarious activity, but it is certainly not designed with transparency and public awareness in mind.

Unfortunately, this is just another incident that shows a disturbing trend with Mrs. Rountree. As the sign scandal played out last year, I gave serious consideration that she “made a mountain out of a molehill” with panicky decision-making. However, with her behavior in court, the other political figures she associates with and this latest issue around deleting the tapes, she continues to show a penchant for deceiving, deflecting and obscuring.  

It has pushed me to believe that these flaws are beyond momentary lapses of judgment and instead baked-in character flaws that she has no interest in changing. Her fellow supervisors’ unwillingness to date to rein in her flagrant violation of transparency is equally concerning.

 

Lewis Edmonds

Windsor