We applaud the enthusiastic reactions of Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors Chairman Don Rosie and Supervisor Joel Acree to a Windsor resident’s recommendation that meetings of the county’s Economic Development Authority be livestreamed for public consumption.

Excuses and foot-dragging from county staff and the county attorney should not deter this needed and overdue transparency for an entity that is increasingly asserting itself in controversial projects.

Lewis Edmonds, a citizen watchdog, asked supervisors during public comments at a recent meeting to “mandate if possible or at least strongly encourage other public entities that use this room to record their meetings.” He specifically mentioned the EDA, which has vast power to buy and sell real estate on behalf of the county but historically has operated in the shadows of county government.

While we were aware of the body’s existence, it popped prominently on our radar screen a couple of years ago when, out of nowhere, the EDA was proposed to be the principal entity in a controversial public-private partnership for a permanent farmers market and connected for-profit enterprise at the Grange at 10Main mixed-use development on the edge of Smithfield’s historic district.

The Times has been attending and covering EDA board meetings ever since in an effort to inform citizens about the authority’s activities.

We wish we’d started a few years earlier when the EDA purchased land just outside the Windsor town limits, setting in motion a chain of events that culminated with the Board of Supervisors’ controversial 3-2 vote last month to plop a massive warehouse complex next to the quiet Lovers Lane residential area. 

Town residents and elected officials are livid, Lovers Lane resident and former Mayor Glyn Willis telling a reporter: “The lack of knowledge and concern regarding the impact of warehouses and industrial facilities on neighborhoods and communities is disappointing to say the least. County staff show no regard for citizens as they provide no information to the supervisors on health, quality of life and environmental impacts. It is all about the money.”

The Board of Supervisors must ensure that the actions of the EDA never again blindside the citizenry. Livestreaming, recording and archiving the body’s meetings are an excellent way to start. 

Technological hurdles cited by county staff are easily and inexpensively overcome. As to County Attorney Bobby Jones’ concern that meeting recordings will become a public record under Virginia law, that’s exactly our point: They should be a public record and accessible in perpetuity if county government has any chance of regaining citizens’ confidence, which has been shaken badly in recent years by one controversial decision after another.