Several months after authorizing an investigation into a matter that led former County Administrator Rodney Taylor to resign, Amherst supervisors are still awaiting a response from the Attorney General of Virginia for legal assistance.
County Attorney J. Vaden Hunt told supervisors last week that an assistant within the office informed him by phone that a written response would soon be forthcoming. Hunt said a specific date wasn’t given but indicated it would come in “weeks rather than months.”
The involvement of the attorney general’s office is the county’s last option for a probe without using taxpayer money to hire a private investigator. The commonwealth’s attorney in Amherst and state police declined to get involved. Hunt did not conduct his own investigation to avoid appearance of a conflict of interest.
Taylor resigned in late April after he was accused of implicating a supervisor in leaking confidential information to a local attorney. The alleged leak involved a former county employee who was under criminal investigation.
Supervisors denied divulging the information and released a statement saying Taylor was “insubordinate,” though not all five supervisors consented to a final version of the statement. At least two supervisors had performance-related concerns with Taylor before the incident.
Taylor, who served three years as administrator, insisted he acted appropriately with law enforcement personnel and was not treated fairly when he was asked to resign.
Supervisors voted in early June to authorize a probe into the leak but it has yet to produce results. Hunt has said the leak “may or may not have given rise to an obstruction of justice criminal act.”
Some citizens have personally demanded that the county continue to investigate while others, including some supervisors, have said that taxpayer money should not be used to proceed further.
Meanwhile, supervisors went into closed session last week to discuss hiring a new county administrator and took no action after convening a regular meeting. As of press time the county has yet to hire Taylor’s replacement.
The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to next meet Sept. 15 at the Amherst Education Center at 219 Trojan Lane in Madison Heights.
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