Chesterfield County School Board Member Carrie Coyner missing meeting to figure where to cut 5 million from School Budget to get her client off the hook from paying fees to offset their financial impact to School System. Conflict of interest?

Coyner misses part of meeting to argue for developer

Posted: Wednesday, February 19, 2014 BY LOUIS LLOVIO AND JOHN RAMSEY Richmond Times-Dispatch

While her Chesterfield County School Board colleagues were meeting Tuesday night to try to cut more than $5 million from the school system’s budget, board member Carrie E. Coyner was across the government complex arguing that a local developer she represents should not have to pay fees meant to offset the impact of new houses on schools and other public services.

Coyner, a lawyer, missed the first two hours of the nearly three-hour School Board meeting where other members were considering scaling back plans to hire more than 100 new teachers, slashing its warehouse staff and increasing the prices for renting school gymnasiums and meeting rooms.

Coyner was arguing before the Chesterfield Planning Commission that a developer she represents should not have to pay proffers — fees meant to offset the impact new houses have on schools and other public services.

The county’s commonwealth’s attorney has said Coyner’s work representing developers is not in conflict with her duties as a School Board member. Legal experts have said she could have a problem if it appears she is misusing her position on the board in an attempt to gain an advantage for her developer clients or if she is representing a developer in a matter in which she participated as a School Board member.

But Coyner’s dual roles put her in a politically tricky position: seemingly bound to argue at different times for and against funding for schools.

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