Council Holding Secret Meeting to Buy Bank(?) Building

By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

July 18, 2012

Town Council has announced another “executive” session for tomorrow – meaning that the public is not invited.

According to records posted by the Town Clerk, this makes a dozen closed meetings so far this year.

By comparison, Town Council held 11 executive sessions during the whole of last year, and only 6 executive sessions in 2010.

The State of Virginia has strict rules about public bodies holding closed meetings. Under law, these closed meetings cannot be “secret” – the public must be informed when the meeting will take place and what specific subject will be discussed. “A general reference to . . . the subject matter of the closed meeting shall not be sufficient to satisfy the requirements for holding a closed meeting,” according to the Code.

In the case of Cape Charles, the closed meeting will take place at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, July 19, and the subject will be “Real Estate Acquisition Opportunity.”

This makes the third closed meeting this month with that subject – the earlier meetings being July 12 and July 3.

But Town Council has been meeting behind closed doors about a “real estate acquisition opportunity” since at least May 17 – and for the past two months, rumors have been circulating that the Town plans to buy the former Bank of America building.

The bank building, on the corner or Mason Avenue and Pine Street, has been vacant since March. According to a For Sale sign on the bank, bids were due June 8.

Four bids are believed to have been received, all under $100,000.

A resident knowledgeable about property transactions has suggested that Bank of America could reap tax advantages from selling the building to the Town at a low price rather than to a private entity at a higher price.

But even if the Town were to obtain the property at a bargain price, it would then be removed from the tax rolls, costing the Town thousands of dollars in forfeited revenue every year thereafter.

Town Council has scheduled a public meeting tomorrow immediately following the closed session, with the same agenda item, leading to speculation that Council might vote as early as tomorrow to proceed with a public hearing on buying the building.

Purchase or sale of public property requires a three-fourths majority vote of Town Council.

The Town Clerk’s records show that at the May 17 closed meeting, John Burdiss was present. Burdiss, a former Town councilman, was also present at at least one of the closed sessions last year when the Town was considering selling the old school and adjoining property by Central Park. Burdiss is a private attorney but he is not retained by the Town.

Virginia code states: “A public body may permit nonmembers to attend a closed meeting if such persons are deemed necessary or if their presence will reasonably aid the public body in its consideration of a topic that is a subject of the meeting.”

The full requirements for meeting in private can be read here http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+2.2-3711 and here http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+2.2-3712.