Rockbridge County votes
to remain
in partnership
Two weeks after the Board of Supervisors’ tie vote to do
away with the Rockbridge Partnership, supervisors voted unanimously to
keep the economic development agency alive.
“I don’t want us to go back 30 years ago – it didn’t work very well,”
said Supervisor Maynard Reynolds about the period before the economic
partnership between Lexington and Rockbridge County existed. “I think we
would be doing the county an injustice.”
On Oct. 9 the supervisors failed to approve moving forward with
advertising for a new executive director for the Partnership. The county
and city have been without an economic development head since former
Director David Kleppinger resigned in July.
At the Oct. 9 meeting, Supervisor Mack Smith moved to reject the
partnership’s recommendations for the advertisement and instead proposed
that the county hire its own economic development director. In a 2-2
vote, Supervisors Smith and Monty Fix voted to break up the partnership.
The fifth member of the board, Reynolds, was absent. Because of the tie,
the motion was reconsidered at the supervisors meeting Monday.
By then, Smith and Fix had had a change of heart. The supervisors voted
unanimously against Smith’s motion to employ someone to work for the
county alone. Instead, Reynolds moved to keep the Partnership alive and
move forward with advertising for and hiring a new director.
With its approval, the board expressed a desire to have more “input” in
the Partnership. It was not clear whether that meant only in the hiring
of a new director, or in the way the Partnership operates as well.
The advertisement for the new executive director will appear on several
economic development state websites and newsletters, including the
Virginia Association of Counties, the Virginia Municipal League and the
Virginia Economic Development Association. The secretary for the
Partnership, Valerie Lewis, said that the Partnership will likely
advertise for six weeks.
The Rockbridge Partnership
Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Brian Richardson
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd