Appomattox Town Manager Bart Van Nieuwenhuise has been placed on administrative leave without pay for eight days, Mayor Paul Harvey said Wednesday.
Harvey declined to give a reason for the action, stating the matter was “a personnel issue.”
It is unclear when Van Nieuwenhuise was placed on administrative leave.
Council members met Monday night, where they entered into closed session “under 2.2-3711(A)1 of the Code of Virginia for the purpose of discussion of the resignation of a specific public employee, specifically being employee A and discussion of five (5) specific employees, specifically Employees B,C, D, E, and F,” according to minutes from the meeting.
However, no action was taken by council members to place Van Nieuwenhuise on administrative leave once they reconvened in open session.
Council member Jennifer Jamerson-Scruggs declined to say whether action concerning the town manager was taken in the closed session.
Jamerson-Scruggs and Harvey referred further question to the town council’s attorney, Frank Wright.
Wright did not return a call made by The News & Advance on Wednesday.
According to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, such action could not be taken in a closed session, even in issues regarding personnel.
Alan Gernhardt, staff attorney for the Freedom of Information Advisory Council, said Wednesday that unless the law of the acting governing body allows for an exemption, all action taken by a board or council must be conducted in open session.
“Limited to FOIA, all provisions say you have to take a vote” in open session, he said.
Van Nieuwenhuise has been employed by the town since April 2009.
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