PCED board votes to dissolve organization

By SUSAN ELZEY
Special to the Register & Bee
Published: January 12, 2009

The board of directors of the Pittsylvania County Economic Development Office voted unanimously Monday night to dissolve the organization.

The action followed the Dec. 16 decision of the Board of Supervisors to establish a department of economic development and hire an economic development director to work under the county administrator. PCED operated as a separate entity not under county control.

In a unanimous decision, the PCED board voted to transfer all funds left after the outstanding bills were paid to the Pittsylvania County Industrial Development Authority.

Although a couple of other suggestions were offered for the disposition of the remaining funds, Hank Davis, a member of both the Board of Supervisors and the PCED board, said, “The money will be better continued for economic development if the money goes to the IDA.”

The December financial statement presented by Carol Motley, the retiring executive director of PCED, showed $1,582.90 remaining in the checking account and $34,986.56 left in the savings account.

“This board, in my opinion, has served an essential service,” Glenn Giles, a board member, said.

He took exception at the report by former Danville City Manager Jerry Gwaltney, in which Gwaltney said the PCED board and the Board of Supervisors did not cooperate.

Gwaltney was hired by the county for $30,000 as a temporary consultant to revamp economic development efforts.

“The county paid $30,000 for a one-paragraph synopsis,” board member Stan Simpson said. “The $29,500 part must still be on its way.”

Davis added, “I don’t know where that (Gwaltney’s) statement came from. We have never had a word of discord. We have worked together and gotten along.”

Giles suggested that the PCED board buy an ad to recognize all the volunteers that have served on the board since the organization’s founding in the early 1980s.

“The way we’ve been treated as a board reflects poorly on volunteerism,” Giles said. “Some action should be taken (to recognize the volunteers) if the Board of Supervisors won’t take the initiative.”

The board decided unanimously to transfer all the property owned by PCED, which includes a shell building and the Ringgold East Industrial Park, to the IDA.

The members also voted unanimously to pay Motley $35 an hour up to April 15 to finish the necessary work of dissolving the corporation.