The vote may not have been recorded in public minutes. The article states that they used a "resolution" which does not require a public hearing, so it's entirely possible that they did it in some sort of executive session. I admit to not knowing the minutiae of such things.
It seems obvious, though, that they tried to sneak the change through with a minimum of public notice, and in fact they succeeded for a year and a half or so, until somebody got their 2006 car tax decal and spotted the change. Like I said a while back, I grew up there and I never knew there even *was* a St. Andrews Cross on the county seal. Somebody was eagle-eyed to spot it and get "offended" in the first place, and somebody else was eagle-eyed to spot the change.
}:-)4
In Virginia, a resolution has to be voted on in open session even if it's discussed in closed session (I can't imagine how this could have been legally discussed in closed session under state laws). All votes are recorded in the minutes, and an online search (www.countyofamherst.com) shows they did indeed approve a redesign of the seal "as proposed" in August 2004. Minutes would not normally record the discussion, if any. The vote was 5-0.
I don't doubt they did keep it as quiet as possible, though. It's a fairly common tactic on boards and councils throughout the state on any number of issues. Heck, the General Assembly started killing things in subcommittees (??) this year partly so they wouldn't have to dicuss some of them so publicly. Supposedly they did this to make things "more efficient."