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Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Work continues at the AEP fly ash site on U.S. 460 in Narrows. A project called Cumberland Park would put three years' worth of coal ash from the Glen Lyn plant in the site, raising the riverbank.

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PEARISBURG -- In its annual filing with the Internal Revenue Service, the Giles County Partnership for Excellence says its "organizational objective is the enrichment of the quality of education for the youth of Giles County." But the Giles County School Board claims it has had virtually no contact with nor support from the partnership.

The lawyer registered with the State Corporation Commission as the partnership's agent recently resigned. So did the chairman of the board of directors. The Concerned Citizens of Giles County claims the partnership is flouting state law and its own bylaws.

Howard Spencer, the partnership's executive director, last week referred a series of questions to the organization's lawyer -- then refused to say who that lawyer is. Meanwhile, the partnership's Cumberland Park project continues.

Cumberland Park would put about three years' worth of coal ash from Appalachian Power Co.'s Glen Lyn power plant in the 100-year flood plain between U.S. 460 and the New River. Compacted as fill material, the ash -- it's called coal combustion byproducts -- will raise the riverbank about 30 feet, creating a 7-acre building site.

That's a beneficial use, according to state and federal environmental regulations, a designation that allows the project to avoid putting an impervious liner under the ash. It also lets the project forgo wells that would alert regulators to any migration of arsenic, lead or other toxins from the site into the local water table.

In November, the Giles County Board of Supervisors sent a letter to Spencer and Joe Ryder asking them to add a liner and monitoring wells anyway. They also asked for regular test of the fly ash's chemical makeup.

They're still waiting for a reply.

Spencer is a supervisor. He was the board's chairman when the letter was sent. He's also town manager of Glen Lyn, the site of the power plant that produces about 200 tons of coal combustion byproducts daily. He's also the partnership's new registered agent as well as its executive director.

Ryder is a member of the partnership's board of directors. He's also the Glen Lyn power plant's environmental compliance director.

Spencer has repeatedly said the building site created from coal ash will be sold and the profit passed on to the county's schools. Last week, school board Chairman J.B. Buckland said there is no such agreement between the partnership and county schools.

"I don't know what he intends to do with the funds," Buckland said.

According to the partnership's bylaws, it should have a 12-member board of directors, with five of them appointed by the school board. Buckland said that has never happened, though a letter written on Giles County Vocational School letterhead in 1991, the year the partnership was incorporated, assures the SCC that's the way it's supposed to work. The letter was signed by Forest Fowler, then the principal of the vocational school. Fowler also signed the partnership's papers of incorporation. He was on the first five-member board. Those five were to appoint the additional seven members.

But today there are only five directors on the partnership's board: Ryder, Scott Meade, Brenda Smith, Howard Cantor, Anne Wheeler and Amy Gilmer. Gilmer is the managing editor of The Virginian Leader, Wheeler is a science teacher at Giles High School and Smith is a businesswoman.

Despite Buckland's denial of a connection between the school board and the partnership, Meade, assistant superintendent of schools, is listed in SCC documents as chairman of the partnership's board.

Meade said last week that he resigned "very recently" after taking on additional duties at work. When he became assistant superintendent in 2003, coordinating with the partnership was part of his job, Meade said. So it was only natural that he join the board. He served two years as chairman. When Brian Scheid resigned as the partnership's registered agent in November, Meade notified the SCC. He sent the letter from 151 School Road, the county's school administration building.

Scheid said Monday that he resigned to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. His wife, Brenda, is an active member of the Concerned Citizens of Giles County.

According to the partnership's tax filings, the bulk of its money comes from government grants. For two of the past three years on record, more money has gone to administration costs than to the services those grants are supposed to finance. In 2003, 56 percent of the partnership's revenues went to services. In 2004, that fell to 35 percent. In 2005, the last year for which records are available, the figure was 27 percent. That year, the partnership spent $76,383 of its $278,967 on program services.

Sandra Miniutti is spokeswoman for Charity Navigator, an organization that rates how efficiently larger charitable organizations handle their money. Although Charity Navigator did not analyze the partnership's finances, the organizations that get its highest rating use at least 75 percent of revenues on programs, she said. Charities that put less than a third of their revenues toward programs get a zero.

Last week, the Concerned Citizens of Giles County appealed to the school board, saying that the partnership is a public school foundation, which by definition is supposed to be overseen by the school board. Since the board hasn't been overseeing the partnership, the citizens argue, the board is allowing the partnership to operate in violation of state law. The citizens asked the school board to stop the Cumberland Park project until questions about the partnership are resolved.

"They are operating as a public school foundation, and they can't do that without you," said Leigh Stoudenmire, a member of the citizens group.

School board member Drema McMahon proposed the board stop Cumberland Park until the partnership's operations, its legal status and the school board's rightful role are clarified. Her motion died for want of a second.

"I don't think the fault lies with the Giles County School Board," Buckland told the Concerned Citizens. "I think y'all need to talk with the partnership."

There’s no fly ash in Cumberland Park yet, but the Concerned Citizens of Giles County have already petitioned to have the project declared a public nuisance. More precisely, the group has petitioned Giles County Circuit Court to impanel a grand jury to investigate whether the project — which would put 254,000 cubic yards of coal ash on the banks of the New River near Narrows — constitutes a public nuisance. The group also wants the court to stop all work at Cumberland Park until that grand jury has reached a decision.

The Giles County Partnership for Excellence, the organization behind the project, has filed papers asserting that there’s no basis in state or common law for what the Concerned Citizens want, so the petition should be denied.

The court hasn’t ruled yet.