Greene County supervisors authorize closed meeting, announce external review of recent fire safety events

The Greene County Board of Supervisors moved into a closed session on the advice of legal counsel to discuss "actual or probable litigation," then returned to open session and announced an external after-action review of recent events that raised public-safety concerns.

Unidentified Speaker 1, reading on behalf of the board, asked Miss Sheffert to read a formal resolution authorizing the closed session under Virginia Code 2.2-3711(a)(7) and (8). Miss Sheffert read the motion language allowing "consultation with legal counsel pertaining to actual or probable litigation" and the board then recessed for the closed meeting.

A roll-call vote to authorize the closed session was recorded as affirmative. The board later reconvened in open session, and each member certified that "only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirement and only such matters as identified by the motion to enter into closed meeting were discussed." The board recorded certification responses in sequence and then issued a public statement summarizing next steps.

In the statement read in open session, the board said "the board of supervisors' highest concern is for the safety of the public" and that it "took reasonable steps to protect the safety of the public by engaging a neutral external review committee comprised of a deputy chief of Spotsylvania County Department of Fire Rescue and Emergency Management, a deputy chief of Louisa County Fire and EMS, and a battalion chief from the Fredericksburg Fire Department to review recent events that caused concern for public safety and the safety of firefighters." The board said it will promptly meet with the three volunteer fire companies to review recommendations and action items and that "the full after action review as well as other supporting documentation will be forthcoming shortly."

The record lists the participating Supervisors during roll calls as Mister McQuicken, Mister Goolsby (also transcribed as Goolsbee/Goolsby), Mister Lamb and Miss Durr (transcribed also as Durer). The transcript records members' responses as "Aye" during the roll calls authorizing the closed session, approving reconvening in open session and adjourning; the motions carried.

The board did not provide other details about the subject matter of the probable litigation in the open statement. The only procedural authorities cited on the record were Virginia Code 2.2-3711(a)(7) and (8), which the motion named as the basis for the closed meeting. The board said it is eager to work with all three volunteer fire departments "to implement these recommendations for the benefit of the public and the fire companies."

The meeting adjourned after the board voted on the motion to adjourn. The board indicated the full after-action review and supporting materials will be released in the near term and staff will arrange meetings with the volunteer companies identified in the statement.

The transcript contains minor spelling inconsistencies in members' names (for example, variations of McQuicken/McQuiggan and Goolsbee/Goolsby/Durer/Durr); those variations are reflected where they appear in the record and are noted in clarifying details below.