BEAVER — Communication is key — and it's also what cost Beaver County a place in the medical-marijuana business.

John Haynes, a senior investor for iNetworks, told county officials Tuesday that bad press and unreturned phone calls caused PennAlt, a medical marijuana firm in which iNetworks invests, not to locate its grower facility in Beaver County.

"There clearly was some pushback in response to putting it here," Haynes told the county pension board. "There were no return calls to come in, and there was negative press with respect to the county."

Haynes said messages were left "when (Commissioners Chairman Daniel Camp) was not chair(man)." Camp became chairman of the board in March, when a shake-up in county government ousted Sandie Egley as chairwoman.

In attendance at Tuesday's county pension board meeting were Camp, Commissioner Tony Amadio, Treasurer Connie Javens and Controller David Rossi. Egley was late to the meeting and missed Haynes' comments.

After the meeting, when asked about the situation, Egley said she does not recall any inquiries about a meeting regarding a medical-marijuana grower.

"I would refute that they tried to get ahold of me," she said. "I don't believe that that is how I react when people try to get ahold of me. I return my calls, I meet with people when asked and my door has always been open."

The "bad press" that Haynes mentioned included a KDKA television interview with Egley in which she called the county pension investment into PennAlt "madness."

She doubled down on those comments Tuesday and said that she felt it was "almost a blindside" when she found out during the summer that the county had invested several hundred thousand dollars in a medical-marijuana startup.

"That was something that came out of nowhere," she said. "When you're investing in the pensions of 850 employees, you're very critical of where you place your money and what is going to make the most money. Marijuana is very volatile right now. The viewpoints are changing."

On July 31, PennAlt was awarded a grower's license from the state to open a facility in Fayette County. A previous application filed by PennAlt indicated that it hoped to open a facility in Aliquippa as one of three potential sites.

During Tuesday's meeting, county officials received information about two "capital calls" for investment funds between $278,000 and $365,000 from iNetwork. One of those was earmarked to fund "the buildout of PennAlt's growing facility in Fayette County," according to documents provided to the board.

Camp said the situation cost the county 100 jobs, a figure that Amadio and Javens asked for more information on.

Haynes said that as investors, iNetworks can only suggest where PennAlt could locate its facility. He told officials that the operation in Fayette County would have at least 50 permanent jobs, salaried between $60,000 and $100,000 each.

Amadio said he regrets how the situation was handled.

"I wish they had reached out to the rest of the board," Amadio told Haynes. "Government works by majority. I feel really bad we lost those jobs."

Egley echoed that sentiment after the meeting.

"I would be very upset that we lost out on jobs," she said. "That's a real blow to Beaver County. I wish they would have come to the board before making that decision."

Camp had harsh words for the situation after the meeting.

"It's upsetting to find out that Beaver County lost this investment because we had a chairman who was not receptive to taking a meeting," Camp said. "One of our primary goals as commissioners is to bring economic growth and jobs into the county. We heard it firsthand today when we had a commissioner who wasn't willing to take a meeting for the entire board, and we lost this opportunity."