At the Monday, April 28 Patrick County Board of Supervisors meeting, Steve Marshall, of the Blue Ridge District, became the first supervisor in recent memory, and perhaps ever, to be censured in the county’s more than 230 year history.
Marshall was censured in a 3-1-1 vote.
Jonathan Wood, chairman, and of the Peters Creek District; Andrew Overby, vice-chairman and of the Dan River District; and Clayton Kendrick, of the Mayo River District, voted in support of the censure.
Doug Perry, of the Smith River District, cast the dissenting vote.
Marshall abstained.
Under the conditions of the censure, Marshall also was removed from his committee appointments to the Department of Social Services Board, Community Policy and Management Team, and the county’s liaison to the Stuart Town Council.
Marshall is also prohibited from being appointed to any of the county or board committees, commissions, and authorities, for a term of no less than one year, effective April 28.
According to Wood, the remaining four board members will decide whether to take on Marshall’s now vacant committee appointments.
“Just like we start off each January, we’ll discuss those over the next couple of weeks and have everything figured out by our next meeting in May,” Wood said.
Before the censure vote was taken, Overby read a prepared resolution. He said the content had been approved through the county attorney’s office.
“We’ve had several people come in front of this board to exercise their concerns and complaints over the conduct of Mr. Marshall. We were presented with a package of information at the last meeting that outlined the conduct that’s been accomplished by Mr. Marshall,” Overby said.
The resolution stated the board “expresses their displeasure with the consistent display of unprofessional behavior of Board of Supervisors member Steve Marshall by his repeated attempts to silence, harass, intimidate, bully, threaten, and defame other members of the Board of Supervisors as well as appointed members of the board’s committees, commissions, authorities, and citizens of Patrick County.”
Overby read that Marshall “operates multiple social media accounts and/or websites with the intent to silence, harass, intimidate, bully, and defame” board members “as well as appointed members of the board’s committees, commissions, and authorities” county residents.
The resolution also stated that Marshall publicly made defamatory statements against board members, appointed members of the board’s committees, commissions, and authorities and county residents in public meetings and on social media accounts and websites he operates.
Marshall “has continuously committed acts to restrict free speech” of residents “by blocking citizens from his official social media accounts, blocking comments on his posts on social media, and deleting his own as well as citizens’ comments on social media” and has “attempted to silence, harass, intimidate, bully, threaten, and defame other” board members “from email communications” and served board members with a notice of claim and intent to bring civil and/or criminal action against them, the resolution stated.
In the resolution, Overby said the board “seeks to formally express its disapproval of Marshall’s continued unprofessional behavior, abuse of power, and disdain for” county residents.
During discussions preceding the vote, Perry said he felt Marshall has a right to his thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and opinions.
“If he’s violated above and beyond the public trust and violated any, for the lack of better terms, laws or legal issues, then it’s the citizens to file the complaint with the board and get the names and move forward to have him removed. I just feel like this is outside of … the citizens elected him, and if it’s crossed this line, then they should seek the court to have him removed,” Perry said.
Several attending the meeting applauded after the resolution was approved.
After its approval, Marshall said the action was meaningless.
“What’s trying to be done here is silence what I’m saying online which is exposing things that this board does. Okay, other than that, that’s their right to censure, and that’s pretty much all I have to say. You can censure every meeting,” he said.
Wood said he hopes Marshall complies with the censuring.
“This is a statement of the majority of the board, and a response to the citizens of Patrick County. I think that when you’re elected to a position, you’re expected to do what you’re elected to do. When that doesn’t necessarily occur, sometimes other actions have to take care of that,” he said.
Overby said Marshall’s statement was “just typical Steve.”
“I didn’t know how he was going to react, but at the end of the day I was really surprised he didn’t have more to say. He probably didn’t have time to write anything, which was part of the point,” he said, adding he believes Marshall will have “a mouthful to say” at the next meeting.
When he was packing up following the end of the meeting, Overby said Marshall came up to him and said “well, we’ll see what’s going to happen or something like that.”
In a social media post several days later, Marshall wrote that the resolution “is a baseless, politically motivated attack filled with subjective accusations and zero evidence. It’s a transparent attempt to silence my efforts to hold the board accountable” through his online platforms “where I exercise my right to free speech. The board’s issue isn’t professionalism, it’s their discomfort with scrutiny.”
While he briefly restricted access to his personal Facebook account last year, Marshall said he stopped once he understood the legal boundaries.
“I disable comments due to coordinated harassment campaigns that targeted my official and personal accounts, forcing me to delete the official ones. The board misinterprets my rights—posting factual statements doesn’t obligate me to endure abuse,” he said.
Marshall said he’s only required to allow commenting if he had the authority to speak on behalf of the government and was exercising that authority in the specific social media posts in question.
“The boards (sic) accusations stem form (sic) being willfully misinformed,” he said.
Marshall also wrote that during the closed session meeting, Overby “unlawfully seized my phone to stop a recording (a 4th Amendment violation), and Supervisor Jonathan Wood took possession of it.”
Marshall said he attempted to record the closed session meeting because he “anticipated extortive threats related to the censure, a concern validated by their actions. Overby has a history of aggressive behavior in closed sessions, including emotional outbursts directed at staff and myself.”
Marshall said stripping him of his committee assignments is also ineffective as he’ll continue attending them as a public member and hold the board accountable for its habitual absences and lack of transparency.
“If anything, this move will spotlight their failure to engage with committees. This censure is performative politics, led by Overby, who thrives on drama. Instead of silencing me, it’s reinforced my commitment to transparency. The board’s tactics won’t work. Patrick County deserves better than petty retaliation.”
While recording in a closed session meeting isn’t illegal, Overby said it’s not allowed without the consent of everyone involved.
“We as a county do not record closed session meetings. I’m not sure of the exact legalities, but nobody’s going to be recording our closed sessions unless we all agree to it,” Overby said, adding that Marshall turned on a recording device and placed it in front of him (Overby).
“I picked it up and turned it off, and sat it back down. Jonathan (Wood) did not touch the phone at any point in time,” Overby said, after reading Marshall’s post.
“None of that’s true,” Overby said, and he views the post as “just more smoke and mirrors and trying to take the heat off himself.”
Perry said he still feels censuring Marshall was not within the purview of the board.
“If he’s doing all the things he’s accused of, then the citizens elected him … the citizens should have him taken away. I feel that’s something that the citizens should take actions versus the board,” he said.
Kendrick believes Marshall needs to learn what the rules are and how to follow them.
“It doesn’t sound like he’s learned anything yet,” he said.
