After the Greenbrier Valley Airport Authority voted to ban Greenbrier County Commission Mike McClung from airport property while it investigates an alleged property theft, McClung responded to the allegations in an interview with The West Virginia Daily News.
During the August 27 Greenbrier County Commission meeting, Greenbrier Valley Airport Authority (GVAA) Chairman Deborah Phillips spoke during public comment, alleging that McClung has been engaging employees, managers, and board members outside of the bounds of his position as a commissioner.
“I’m here to ask the commissioners’ help to ask for a safe, stress-free work environment at the Greenbrier Valley Airport,” said Phillips on August 27. “After consulting with an attorney for the authority, I would like to ask for any help you may provide in stopping contact between Commissioner McClung and our airport managers and staff. … McClung is still an elected official and commands a presence over others because of his relationship between the County Commission and the Authority Board. … Last week McClung met with our acting airport manager and ordered her to do certain things concerning her job and, in her words, made comments that she interpreted to be threatening to her and her position. I asked her to file a written history of their conversation and have her permission to present that to you this evening.”
McClung, in the interview, pushed back against the comment, stating he had only been to the airport a handful of times after a controversial commission vote to remove him as the commission’s representative on the GVAA, the legality of which he disputes.
“I was removed, illegally, from the airport authority and I’ve only attended a couple of meetings since then, perhaps just one, maybe two, I don’t know,” said McClung. “I challenge someone to find me hanging around the airport and speaking to the staff, there are cameras everywhere. It’s just totally bogus. It was disappointing to hear those accusations and it was disappointing to heard someone that I thought I trusted and respected saying things that were not true.”
During the August 27 meeting Phillips also presented documents and photos to the commission, which she stated provided evidence that McClung had taken a hard drive from the airport, without the permission of airport staff or GVAA.
“During the commissioner’s visit to the Greenbrier Valley Airport’s administrative offices, it appears he may have removed an external hard drive from the office of the airport manager, as well as an unknown document,” Phillips said. “These electronic and written documents were taken without notice or permission of the GVA board or staff. I notified Commissioner McClung earlier today by email that, based on the advice of our legal counsel, that he is not to be allowed on airport property pending a review of this improperly taking of electronic records from the authority’s office. I have no words to describe what we see. We do not know what was taken; we know it’s a hard drive, we’re not sure what’s in the hard drive. … He returned a second time, at which time he returned the drive, we believe. … I will tell you we have also contacted the prosecuting attorney’s office, we are not going to do this anymore internally. I’m sorry to have to tell you this this evening, that’s just where we are.”
McClung confirmed he took a hard drive, two file folders, and a CD from the airport, explaining that he copied the files and sent them to a special prosecutor, for which other files are allegedly being held at the airport.
“I went to the airport and asked about quite a collection of banker’s boxes [that held] evidence that were [being kept in a particular location at the airport],” McClung said. “They were not there, and I asked where they were, and I was pleased to find out they had been put in a [different location] and locked. They were secure. I knew where there had been some potential evidence that were not in those boxes and when I looked where I thought it to be, it was there. That meant it was not secured, so I copied that potential evidence. … I did not view those. I sent them by certified mail to the special prosecutor.”
McClung cited part of the West Virginia State Code, §7-1-16. Reporting of fraud and misappropriation of funds, as a motivating factor in taking the hard drive, two physical file folders, and a CD.
“I did not tamper with that evidence,” McClung said. “It was not for me, it was to send to the prosecutor. I have a legal right to do that, check the code. … I have an ethical duty to do that and I think I have a moral obligation to do that. I believe that the people that voted to re-elected me voted for someone who would look after things that others won’t. … Information was copied, the originals were returned, there was no tampering, no viewing of those electronic [records], and they were set where the law requires.”
The code section, consisting of two parts, a and b, reads “(a) Whenever a county commission, or any of a county’s boards, committees, or any other entities of any kind or nature authorized in this chapter, obtains information that an employee, officer or member of the county commission, or any of a county’s boards, committees, or any other entities of any kind or nature authorized in this chapter may have misappropriated funds, engaged in fraud, or otherwise violated a law relating to the public trust, the county commission, or the county’s board, committee, or other entity authorized in this chapter shall timely report such information or allegation in writing to the county prosecutor’s office. (b) The reporting of such information under subsection (a) of this section shall not prevent, relieve or replace a report to a law-enforcement agency, if appropriate or warranted.”
On September 3, The Greenbrier Valley Airport Authority, based on the advice of their legal counsel, law firm Bailey & Wyant, McClung will not be allowed on airport property until a review of the alleged taking of electronic records has been reviewed. The authority has also contacted the office of Greenbrier County Prosecuting Attorney Patrick Via. After an executive session meeting, a motion was made to authorize Bailey & Wyant to investigate the taking of unauthorized data from the airport on August 23, 2019. The motion passed 4-1, with Lowell Johnson voting against the measure.
Read more in the Friday, September 13, 2019, edition of The West Virginia Daily News.
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