Many Officials Have Multiple Commercial Interests Within Communities They Serve

Renting a home or business location in Richlands might best be accomplished by contacting members of the Town Council or the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors.

Council members Doug Ratliff and Rodney Cury operate separate ventures and – between them – own more than a dozen rental homes, retail centers, businesses and vacant land parcels in and near the town they were elected to govern.

And Seth White, a member of the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors, claimed partial financial interest in buildings with nine apartments and 10 commercial spaces in Richlands, according to his disclosure form.

Public officials in Virginia and Tennessee are required to file the disclosure forms annually. Over the past four months, the Bristol Herald Courier and News Channel 11 Connects reviewed more than 700 of those forms. The statements did not reveal obvious or egregious conflicts of interest or intentional violations of law. Among the findings – a number of public officials specifically declared that they own rental and investment properties in their communities.

Commercial interests

At least 20 filers in Virginia declared ownership of rental property – either commercial or residential – as a source of income on their disclosure forms. Of those, seven reported operating multiple rental properties, including two who own at least one apartment complex.

According to his statement of economic interests, Ratliff and his company, Ratliff Properties, own and operate car washes, tanning salons, a laundromat and other commercial ventures in Richlands, Cedar Bluff, Abingdon and Boone, N.C.

A check of the Virginia Mass Appraisal Network of property records shows Ratliff owns about 360 acres of land, homes, commercial buildings and enterprises appraised at more than $3.7 million, in and around the Richlands area.

“We own shopping centers. That’s what we do,” Ratliff said in a phone interview. “We have three shopping centers in Richlands and others in Abingdon and in North Carolina.”

Ratliff owns two tracts of land and retail buildings in the Abingdon Town Centre with a combined value of $1.3 million, according to the VamaNet online database. The buildings house a Papa John’s Pizza and Movie Gallery.

A former school teacher and administrator, Ratliff said he began investing in commercial property 30 years ago. He was first elected to the council in May 2008.

His enterprises currently employ about 30 people, well below the 260 employees they once had.

“We used to own the Prime Time video chain. We had all the stores and – at one time – did all the videos in the Food City stores,” he said.

Besides his holdings in the Mountain Empire, Ratliff reported owning time shares in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Las Vegas.

One item that doesn’t appear on his 2008 report is the Wachovia Bank building in Richlands, which he acquired “about six months” ago. The property will be listed on the 2009 filing, he said.

Neighborhood preservation

Cury claims ownership of five rental homes in the 200 block of Tazewell Avenue, a rental home on Fairfax Avenue and a commercial building on Front Street – all within the Richlands town limits. Buying the homes has become somewhat of a crusade for the retired owner of a Richlands clothing store, who also lives on Tazewell Avenue.

“I’m trying to keep this as a [residential] neighborhood for people as long as I can,” Cury said. “This was my neighborhood and where I’ve lived my life. The zoning for this area has changed for business and I want to keep it a neighborhood as long as I can.”

While there has been some commercial encroachment, the area presently remains mostly residential. Cury, who has served as a council member for four years, said he began acquiring other homes a number of years ago.

“That had nothing to do with me running for office,” Cury said.

All of the homes are rented to single families and haven’t been carved up into apartments, he said.

Cury also owns a Front Street commercial building that is partially rented and partially vacant.

According to the VamaNet online database, Cury’s holdings and vacant property have a combined value of more than $960,000.

On his statement of business interests, Cury claims that his two listed business are worth between $10,000 and $50,000 each.

Smart investments

White, who was first elected to the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors in November 2007, is a former banker who now manages rental properties through Veritas Rentals in Richlands.

White said he and four friends bought their first building about five years ago. Today, he has 20 percent ownership of buildings that have a combined nine apartments and 10 commercial spaces.

“We each invested $5,000 and that was the best $5,000 I’ve ever spent,” White said.

He also co-owns other buildings with his parents, Jerry and Jannis White.

White, who also is paid a salary to serve as pastor of the Baptist Valley Assembly of God Church, reported ownership of a Richlands restaurant responsible for between $50,000 and $250,000 in annual income. That has recently changed.

“We just sold the restaurant two weeks ago,” White said. “My first job out of high school was working in that restaurant and we had an opportunity to buy it. We fixed it up and operated for about seven months, but I learned you can’t be an absentee restaurant owner.”

White also reported ownership of two units at the Sand Dunes Resort in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Jon Bowerbank, a member of the Russell County Board of Supervisors and former candidate for lieutenant governor, has extensive commercial holdings across Tazewell, Washington and Russell counties.

Bowerbank, through a limited liability company, owns commercial property in Cedar Bluff, Pounding Mill, Richlands, Brumley Gap and Lebanon.

In Dickenson County, Circuit Court Clerk Richard Edwards, among his holdings, owns half interest in a one-story brick building that houses the U.S. Post Office at Haysi.

“My parents owned that building and left it to my sister and I,” Edwards said. “They’ve [Post Office] been under contract for about 20 years.”

Edwards also still owns and operates two family-owned grocery stores within the county.

“I’ve only been in office for 17 months,” he said. “I’ve been in the grocery business all these years. I still go in to one of my stores every day at 5 a.m., then come into work here [courthouse] about 7:30.”

dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532