'Drag me out!': Tensions flare at Augusta County board meeting as former supervisor removed from dais

“I learned a long time ago to keep your mouth shut when you’re angry."

Supervisor Butch Wells kept his remarks short after an Augusta County Board of Supervisors meeting on Wednesday night that saw a former supervisor get escorted out of the room by Augusta County Sheriff's Office deputies.

That wasn't the only tense moment, as supervisor Scott Seaton fired back at the rest of the board for his recent censure and called into question the validity of supervisor Carolyn Bragg's role as chairperson of the Augusta County planning commission.

Here's what we learned.

Before the drama, what actions did the board take?

As far as their regular agenda, the board had a relatively easy night, approving updated bylaws for both the library board of trustees and the parks and recreation commission. Both sets of bylaws were updated for clarity on the roles and responsibilities of the board as well as to update remote participation rules to reflect Virginia code.

The board officially passed a resolution honoring the late Officer Mark Christopher Wagner of the Wintergreen Police Department who lost his life in the line of duty, and joined a tide of counties pushing the Virginia General Assembly to extend Line of Duty Act benefits for private police officers.

While plenty of law enforcement agencies like the Augusta County Sheriff's Office are considered public police departments, others like the Wintergreen Police Department are private. Other examples of private police departments include those for private universities like Bridgewater College.

The Virginia Line of Duty Act provides benefits to family members of eligible officers killed in the line of duty and to those eligible employees disabled in the line of duty and their family. The Line of Duty Act does not cover private police officers.

Delegate Ellen Campbell is expected to carry legislation which will give localities the option to include private police officers. There is some question of how the cost of those benefits will be handled, as those are typically paid out by localities. Nelson County Board of Supervisors chairperson Jesse Rutherford said that those issues would be tackled in January.

Greene and Montgomery counties passed the resolution earlier this week.

Former supervisor Tracy Pyles removed from board room after refusing to leave dais

The drama kicked off during the citizen comment period of Wednesday night's meeting. Former supervisor Tracy Pyles stepped to the dais, and began his remarks in collected fashion after having been calmed from his original remarks the previous day. Pyles is currently campaigning for Augusta County's Commissioner of Revenue position as the Democratic candidate, and he is running against Republican candidate George Price.

Pyles began his remarks referencing James Madison's Federalist Paper 51 speaking to the need of government to be regulated, either by itself or by the people. He reminded the board that people were protected from governmental overreach by the Bill of Rights, but soon ran into the three minute limit for speakers.

When Pyles was informed his time was up, he told the board that he had no intention of leaving the dais.

"You’ll have to drag me out," Pyles said, later adding, "People died protecting these rights and I’m not afraid to stand up for these rights."

Pyles continued to try and speak before deputies of the Augusta County Sheriff's Office approached to try and usher him away. What ensued was a lengthy stand-off where Pyles refused to leave the dais, even after one deputy reached to the podium and shut off his microphone.

Pyles began to become animated, shouting for the right to speak and calling the three minutes a limitation of free speech. He said the rule limiting comments to three minutes wasn't right, and said he was allowed to continue speaking according to the Constitution.

Eventually, Pyles was escorted out by three deputies. Throughout his outburst, members of the assembled crowd applauded his remarks.

Other than Pyles, two speakers stepped forward to take the board to task for censuring Seaton. One resident, reading a letter on behalf of another resident who couldn't attend the meeting, said that censuring Seaton and removing him from his board and commission assignments made Wayne District residents "second-class citizens" without equal representation in county government.

Seaton fires back at censure action, takes aim at Bragg's position as planning commission chair

As the board rounded back into shape following citizen comments, supervisor Gerald Garber made a motion to adjust the dates on the resolution that censured Seaton. The dates in question regarded closed sessions where Seaton recorded proceedings.

Seaton immediately fired back, asking what rules or laws he had broken when he had recorded those meetings. Board chairperson Mike Shull said that Seaton had admitted to leaking information to the press during a closed session, which Seaton adamantly denied.

Seaton said that he had heard repeatedly from residents that the rest of the board must be hiding something, and again re-iterated that his actions were protected by state law.

"You have rules for you guys and not for us," Seaton declared.

Ultimately, Garber elected to hold off on his motion as Seaton questioned whether the dates in question were the correct dates. Seaton said that the decision should not be about the dates on the resolution, but reconsidering the censure altogether.

During Seaton's remarks, he addressed county attorney James Benkahla about the planning commission's bylaws. In June, the planning commission chose to suspend a bylaw that prohibits a sitting member of the board of supervisors to serve as chair and vice chair of the commission. That was due to interim supervisor Carolyn Bragg's appointment to board while also being the chair.

Seaton referred to Roberts Rules of Order, which says that a change of the bylaws must be preceded by a notice to all the members of the body and a majority vote. Benkahla said that he respectfully disagreed with Seaton, and that it was his belief that the suspension would only require a majority vote from the present commissioners.

Supervisor Pam Carter asked Benkahla to look into the issue, and asked that the county refer to a parliamentarian who could provide input on if the suspension of the bylaw was allowed.

—Akhil Ganesh is the Government Reporter at The News Leader. You can contact him at aganesh@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @akhildoesthings.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: 'Drag me out!': Tensions flare at Augusta County board meeting, former supervisor removed from dais