Lynchburg City Council special meeting fizzles, but tensions continue over contested primary

A special called meeting of the Lynchburg City Council that would have focused on a contested council primary election was not held Wednesday because not enough council members showed up to allow the meeting to proceed.

The meeting was called by Ward III council member Jeff Helgeson and at-large member Marty Misjuns. According to the council’s rules of procedure , any two city council members — or the mayor, or the city manager — can call a special meeting, but a quorum requires four of seven members to attend; Mayor Stephanie Reed was the only other member present.

Helgeson and Misjuns said afterward that they called the meeting because they are concerned that city attorney Matt Freedman is assisting Ward IV council member Chris Faraldi, who serves as the city’s vice mayor, in a lawsuit that seeks to void the results of a recent Republican primary in which Faraldi narrowly beat challenger Peter Alexander .

“I think it’s absolutely critical that we make sure that the city government isn’t putting its thumb on the scale of elections,” Misjuns said.

Helgeson said Freedman called him on Saturday asking if the city should get involved in the lawsuit, and Helgeson said he advised against it because state law frames the suit as between two private individuals: Alexander and Faraldi.

He said he and other council members then received an email from Freedman “marked attorney-client privilege with action items.” According to the agenda proposed for Wednesday’s meeting, the email’s subject line was “Peter Alexander v. Chris Faraldi (election contest).”

“We as a deliberative governing body must take action in the public view, not private phone calls,” Helgeson said.

Faraldi, who did not attend Wednesday’s meeting, has denied that the city attorney or public funds are being used for legal services for himself or his campaign. On Wednesday, Reed backed him up.

“I do know that the vice mayor has publicly stated that he has obtained private counsel in this matter. He is not using the city attorney for private purposes, period,” Reed said.

Reed said all council members except Faraldi, the suit’s defendant, and Misjuns, who wrote an affidavit included in the suit, received a similar phone call from Freedman. She noted that council members are allowed to speak with the city attorney for advice, and she criticized Helgeson’s and Misjuns’ characterization of the situation.

“That’s not something illegal, to make a phone call to ask a simple question. … When people say they don’t trust politicians, and you plant seeds of doubt like that, that is just really irresponsible,” she said.

While the lawsuit is between Alexander and Faraldi, Reed said it impacts the city, too.

“We have a vested interest in the election process because we pay for the election; we give money to the registrar’s office,” she said.

Freedman was not at Wednesday’s meeting; Reed said he was on vacation.

When a Cardinal News reporter texted Faraldi seeking comment, he simply replied, “Happy Independence Day.”

Faraldi won the June 18 Republican primary against Alexander with 1,042 votes to Alexander’s 1,009, a margin of 33 votes, or 1.6%, which is outside the 1% that the state allows for a recount.

Alexander has sued Faraldi in Lynchburg Circuit Court, seeking to have the results thrown out because Alexander alleges that 125 absentee ballots were received but that the registrar’s office never updated their status to show them as processed or counted.

The city’s general registrar, Daniel Pense, and Lynchburg’s electoral board said Monday that they’re “confident that every lawful vote was counted.”

Misjuns, Helgeson, Faraldi, Reed and Ward II council member Larry Taylor comprise a Republican majority on the city council, but the bloc has often been divided . Misjuns and Helgeson supported Alexander in the primary.

The intraparty division was on display Wednesday when Helgeson and Misjuns held a press conference in council chambers immediately after the failed meeting and Reed unsuccessfully ordered news media to leave the room, saying Helgeson and Misjuns had not properly reserved the room for that purpose.

Helgeson read from prepared remarks, which at times were interrupted by Reed and audience members, including one who repeatedly called out, “waste, fraud and abuse.” Despite the discord, Helgeson and Misjuns spoke with reporters outside the doors of the council chambers afterward, as did Reed.

Helgeson said that because of the lack of a quorum Wednesday, he and Misjuns would continue to raise their concerns and have requested another special called meeting for 2 p.m. Tuesday, ahead of a 3 p.m. committee meeting and the council’s 4 p.m. work session.

“We must always do right by the citizens we are entrusted to represent, regardless of the obstacles,” he said.

The lack of quorum Wednesday was not a surprise. Helgeson and Reed were interviewed separately Wednesday morning on “The Morningline” show on Lynchburg’s WLNI radio station, and Reed predicted that she, Misjuns and Helgeson would be the only council members present in council chambers that afternoon.

“I will come because I’m the presiding officer, and what will happen is, if they decide to still have this meeting … I will gavel in and gavel out in about 10 seconds. No one will get to speak and we’ll all go home,” Reed said on the show .

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