The Northern Virginia Daily

October 31, 2009

Hrbek says Carter leaked closed session information

By Ben Orcutt

FRONT ROYAL -- Vice Mayor Bret W. Hrbek accused Happy Creek Supervisor Tony F. Carter on Thursday of trying to undermine a proposed solar farm project.

On Wednesday, The Northern Virginia Daily reported that Maryland-based Standard Solar would be merging with the local SolAVerde firm to form a new company, Standard Energy.

The plan is to build a 27-acre solar farm on the Avtex Fibers Superfund site, now known as the Royal Phoenix, which is the headquarters for the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority.

Hrbek said Thursday that if Carter had not leaked a document from a Board of Supervisors closed session, the information about the changes in the principals involved with the solar project and possible avenues of funding, which are in the preliminary stages, would not have been made public.

"I know that Supervisor Carter gave that information from closed session out to the public about the negotiations with Standard Energy and the EDA," Hrbek said. "You have to wonder what his motivation was for doing that with such a large project that could have such a positive impact on the town and the county. This is so preliminary and delicate that you have to wonder why he would try to cut off the legs in the beginning of the whole process.

"What's been happening in the negotiations between the town and a business enterprise is nothing unusual. It's a back-and-forth, give-and-take."

Carter said that he gave the document to Councilman Carson C. Lauder Jr.

"It is true that the document was given to the board of supervisors in closed session, but I believe it is also true, and I just checked with another EDA member, that that document was actually given to the EDA in open session," Carter said. "So if the document is given to the EDA in open session, does that not make it a public document then?"

Carter also said that during the closed-session briefing by Jennifer McDonald, executive director of the EDA, she did not say the document was confidential and that she told him it also was her understanding that the EDA board had received the document in an open meeting.

"I find it hard to believe that Mr. Hrbek is upset with me giving the information to a council member who should have already had the information," Carter said. "Perhaps he should be more upset that he didn't have the information in the first place prior to the board of supervisors getting it."

McDonald should not be blamed for the leak, Hrbek said.

"Jennifer should not fall on the sword on this," Hrbek said. "She believed rightly and assumed that speaking in closed session that it was confidential. Saying it's confidential in a closed session is like wearing a raincoat inside. It's redundant.

"Perhaps the council needs to ask the EDA to update us on a more regular basis. That's the reason the county knew this before the town. It's my belief Supervisor Carter did this for the express reason of trying to stop a good thing the town is doing for the town citizens and the county citizens."

McDonald explained why she briefed the supervisors.

"My board had not seen that document," McDonald said. "It was given to me at a meeting that Bret Hrbek had also attended. I gave that to the board of supervisors in a closed meeting. I never said that document was confidential. I never stated those words. The EDA does not do their business through the newspaper. They're [the board of supervisors] a stakeholder on this property. They asked for an update so I gave them the update that I had.

"To be honest, I wasn't assuming anything that day. I just didn't tell them it was confidential. We were discussing other confidential projects that day and this happened to be one of them."

Jennifer McDonald, executive director of the Front Royal-Warren County EDA, stands in front of the land where a proposed 27-acre solar farm may be built. The land is on the old Avtex Fibers Superfund site, now known as the Royal Phoenix. Dennis Grundman/Daily