Sussex County Board of Supervisors Chairman Steve White proposed firing then-County Administrator Richard Douglas in a surprise closed session during the April 16 board meeting, Supervisor Thomas Baicy told Checks & Balances Project (C&BP).
The move surprised Baicy and others, because the issue wasn’t included on the agenda for the meeting.
Baicy’s comments came in response to a C&BP Freedom of Information Act request for all communications and documents related to Douglas’ dismissal.
In an email to C&BP, Baicy stated:
“To my knowledge, I do not have anything to share per Douglas firing and Conmy leaving since the topic was not disclosed to me until we went into closed session and the removal of Douglas was brought up by Chair White. [Deputy County Administrator David] Conmy said if Richard is gone, he was leaving within a couple weeks of same.”
After the supervisors left their closed session, Baicy said, “that is when the removal of Douglas occurred and Conmy advised he was leaving as well. Closed session we went closed to discuss personnel…..”
Supervisors C. Eric Fly, Alfred Futrell, Phyllis Tolliver, Rufus Tyler and White voted to fire Douglas, while Baicy and Supervisor Wayne Jones voted no.
White then assumed the full-time role of acting county administrator, despite having a full-time job with the state of Virginia.
Douglas’ firing came seven months after the board eliminated the funding for the jobs of Fire Chief Nick Sheffield and his deputy, Chris Bailey, in a September 2025 meeting. According to sources familiar with the matter, Douglas had resisted calls to fire Sheffield after Sheffield raised questions about the finances of the Stony Creek Volunteer Rescue Squad (SCVRS), which White runs.
County has failed to supply documents
C&BP has also filed FOIA requests seeking the county’s recusal policy for elected officials, the number of times officials have recused themselves in the last 25 years and for all records related to the county’s EMS services and SCVRS.
As of July 10, the county has not provided any of the records, despite an AI-assisted online search suggesting that no such policy exists. State law makes it illegal for county commissioners to vote on matters that affect their self-interest.
C&BP reported on June 30 that the IRS suspended SCVRS’ nonprofit status in 2023 because it had failed to file tax returns for three years. The nonprofit status was restored in 2025, but the latest publicly available SCVRS tax return is from 2019.
SCVRS reported a $304,000 surplus in the five years of tax returns from 2015 to 2019 that are on the IRS website.
Ray Locker is the executive director for Checks & Balances Project, an investigative watchdog blog holding government officials, lobbyists, and corporate management accountable to the public. Funding for C&BP is provided by Renew American Prosperity and individual donors.
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