Steve Marshall said he wishes the best for the person who publicly shared his personal financial information and called on him to step down, but he has no plans to do so.
“I hope that God will bless her and give her peace whatever her demons are,” said Marshall, who serves as the Blue Ridge District representative on the Patrick County Board of Supervisors.
His comments came after Trena Anderson called for him to step down at the May 13 meeting of the Patrick County Board of Supervisors.
“We have a supervisor on this board who has a track record of personal financial irresponsibility voting on county financial matters that affect every taxpayer in Patrick County,” Anderson said. “Mr. Marshall has a background and history of not paying his personal bills.”
She alleged that public records indicate Marshall filed for bankruptcy in 2010 after several financial judgments. “This debt was discharged in 2011. Now, he’s tasked with paying our bills. Many of us have no confidence, no trust, that he is able to perform responsibility with our money,” she said.
Anderson alleged that each time Marshall is confronted with information, a fact, or a comment that he opposes, he “verbally on social media attacks the very citizens he swore an oath to represent. He attacks and harasses citizens publicly with third-hand information in an attempt to humiliate them then deletes his posts and comments. I have a binder of photocopies of some of these incidents.”
Noting that elected officials are held to a higher legal standard and that she’s attempted to inform Marshall of this several times, Anderson said former chairman Brandon Simmons asked Marshall to curb some of his behavior before he resigned from the board.
“Obviously, Mr. Marshall has chosen not to heed that advice,” Anderson said. “These incidents violate Virginia’s laws of ethics, which he swore to uphold when he took the oath to serve. Mr. Marshall’s actions and behavior put this county and this board in what promises to be a legal mess in the near future.
“Can Patrick County afford lawsuits due to his behavior and actions? I am asking that Mr. Marshall step down from his role as supervisor of the Blue Ridge District immediately. I suggest this board investigate Mr. Marshall’s background and behavior on their own. Many of us can provide the other members of this board with documentation of these events. An investigation is legally allowed by statute,” Anderson said.
She also requested that Marshall be censured immediately, pending the outcome of an investigation, and noted her comments were not personal.
The board took no action.
Marshall attended the meeting via Zoom due to a health issue. Reached later by phone, he said Anderson’s comments failed to explain the entire story.
“My father had had a severely debilitating stroke,” and other family members “basically stepped in and took control of his finances but did not help him,” he said.
Marshall said he and his wife, Donna, helped his father for more than nine years, which put them in “pretty extreme debt. So, we filed bankruptcy, which is a fairly normal thing.”
In terms of Anderson’s request, “there’s nothing serious about her call for anything,” Marshall said and added that he and Anderson have a personal background.
“She worked … with my wife …, and ever since then …. There’s been some bad blood there for years, and she hasn’t got any place so far. I haven’t given her any attention so far. It’s just another ditch for attention,” he said.
Also at the meeting, Kurt Bozenmayer discussed the deterioration of public perception of the county administration and elected officials.
Referring to the August 22, 2018 issue of “The Enterprise,” Bozenmayer said the lead article was about Debbie Foley’s resignation as Economic Development director, citing a lack of support from the administration.
“Since that time, we have gone through three more EDA (Economic Development Administration) directors, the last one lasting less than a year. Is there a problem here,” he said.
Bozenmayer said another article in the paper described a joint meeting between the supervisors and the EDA to discuss “personnel.” The meeting was declared “unnecessary” by then-board chairman Lock Boyce.
“The third article described a call from supervisor Crystal Harris for County Administrator Tom Rose to step down due to a perceived lack of performance in his job. And that’s just the front page,” Bozenmayer said and noted that all the people mentioned in that edition, who were placed in their positions because they were the best available, have been replaced in less than a six-year timeframe.
“Now we are facing a situation where one supervisor has resigned, and another is unavailable for medical reasons, and the county malcontents are spoiling up social media calling for the resignation of a third supervisor. Where does this end,” Bozenmayer asked.
After attending nearly every board meeting for the past four or five years, Bozenmayer said he hasn’t seen one shred of evidence that any of the supervisors acted out of personal interests or due to outside influence.
“I find it insulting that people can suggest that elected officials should step down because of the possibility of an opportunity for a conflict of interest. In such a case, no property owner in Patrick County should run for office since they ‘might’ vote on an issue to lower their taxes, as some large landowners have been accused in the past,” Bozenmayer said.
In his past dealings with current supervisors, Bozenmayer said he has found them to all act in the best interest of the majority of residents, and commended them for their integrity.
“Unless a specific charge of impropriety can be cited with valid evidence, not just conjecture or rumor, this character assassination of our elected official should stop. If anyone has a more fitting candidate in mind for these positions, they should run for office when the elections are held, not try to force someone from office over a single perceived issue,” Bozenmayer said.
“It is time to start promoting a positive attitude about our county and offer helpful suggestions via the proper channels rather than parading this image of perpetual victimhood across social media,” he said.
The information obtained about Mr. Marshall is public information. Court records are open to the public. Due to background investigations conducted by many private citizens and professional licensed investigators, validation of prior work history and claims cannot be validated. In today’s digital record keeping world the lack of credible confirmation of “experience claims” creates serious concerns as to the validity and integrity of the individual. Therefore, any dispute, disagreement or public concerns can be easily laid to rest by establishing the location of the reported personal accomplishments including military service and education background for validation and confirmation. A direct and simple response would quickly resolve any conflictual statement of fact.
All of this could have been prevented (IF) there was a background check done before being put on the Counties Payroll. Not sure why Mr. Marshall has an issue in proving his Integrity, not unless there isn’t any. All Town/ County employees that are on the payroll should be vetted completely. They receive our tax dollars and dictates where our money is spent. This should include but not limited too financial, education, work, and criminal history. This county is so far in debt by the tens of millions of dollars from careless management of our tax dollars. We the citizens of this county deserve this!
He should have been honest with voters and let them decide if it was important.
He doesn’t address his frequent inappropriate comments on Social Media nor the blocking of Patrick County residents. Mr Marshall should provide a proof to back up his work history so that people can let this go.
If someone had credentials they would share them.
Mr. Bozenmayer, if you think just because these individuals hold a title they should be respected? You are SO wrong! Some of the board’s Character along with the County Administrators is in question for whom they actually work for. Do you honestly think we are to bow down and be submissive to the very people we elected in office to ignore the majority of people? You actually think we are to shut our mouths over depression of property values due to solar farms? You actually think it’s in the best interest in our children to have a cell tower that out puts so much radiation at the high school? Do you actually think we’re to smile with the used vehicle taxes that was raised? Let’s talk about the garbage pickup almost doubling for the citizens of this county. Now…Beth Simms told our property values have doubled ( wrong) getting us bent over for the next real estate tax hike. This county’s debt is NOT being paid back, and is well over 10 million dollars ‘just’ in interest, what is there to be so positive about? You may like kissing people’s anal cavities but the majority of us don’t.
I moved here in 2018 and my property taxes have increased 70% in 6 years ! Now Mz. Simms wants to do a reasessment in order to raise more tax dollars to address the debt while she subcontracts out every issue that our boards could be addressing .The population in the last five years is down 5 % and if the county continues to manage affairs like this it’s going to drop even more which translates to less income / less yax dollars being collected . what then ? Assess again ??? Wake Up People ! Start Pinching those pennies and start managing smarter .Stop giving Unrealistic pay increases that we can’t afford . I’m not saying workers don’t dersrve a raise , but it should be in line with the cost of living “and” our ability to pay !! Don’t give the raise and wonder where you’re going to get the money from later ; that’s just “stupid” !