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Southampton County Board certifies closed session after discussions on prospective business and litigation
Summary
After meeting in closed session Nov. 18, the Southampton County Board of Supervisors returned to open session and adopted a certification resolution that the closed meeting complied with Virginia law; the announced topics included a prospective business location and two litigation matters tied to a CDBG drainage project and an investigation involving the county school system.
The Southampton County Board of Supervisors certified a closed session it held Nov. 18 after returning to open session and voting to adopt the required FOIA certification resolution.
County staff read the statutory bases for the closed session before the board left the meeting room, saying the discussion would cover "discussion with staff from Franklin Southampton Economic Development Incorporated concerning a prospective business industry where no previous announcement has been made of the business or industry's interest in locating or expanding its facilities in Southampton County," and two litigation matters involving the Newsom CDBG drainage project (Drake easement condemnation) and an investigation and lawsuit concerning the Southampton County Public School System. Those three items were announced by staff before the board recessed into closed session.
After the closed session, the board reconvened and adopted a certification resolution required under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act that "to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting." The board voted on the resolution and recorded affirmative votes before accepting the certification.
No additional public action or details about the prospective business or the litigation outcomes were disclosed in open session other than the formal certification. The resolution and the board's recorded affirmation complete the statutory post-closed-session requirement; the matters identified for closed discussion remain confidential as permitted by state law.
