Issues of plaintiffs’ standing and actual notice took center stage Monday and Tuesday over the first two phases of a scheduled four-day trial on the PW Digital Gateway project in a lawsuit filed by the Oak Valley Homeowners’ Association and 11 individual plaintiffs, all Gainesville-area residents. The plaintiffs’ argument revolves around two questions: whether the timing of the county’s Digital Gateway public hearing advertisements in The Washington Post complied with Virginia statute or county ordinance for proper notice and whether materials relevant to the application were made available to the public at the time of the initial ad.

Debate over Arlington County’s relationship with an agency helping Israeli companies build their operations in Virginia broke out anew last weekend. Karantonis said the county government, through Arlington Economic Development, works with businesses and countries across the globe. Aasim Rawoot, who has spoken on the topic at numerous Board meetings, complained that his effort to bring the situation up for discussion at a recent Economic Development Commission meeting proved fruitless, because that advisory body does not take public comments. “You limit and prevent us from providing public input and oversight,” said Rawoot. He said county officials were putting “your heads in the sand” on the issue. Karantonis countered there was no obligation for advisory commissions to include a public-comment period. “This is not a public forum per se,” Karantonis said. “There are other places where this can happen, and happen very easily.” He pointed to the Board’s “Open-Door Monday” meetings, as well as to communicating through emails or letters. Those options, however, are not telecast for public consumption. Advocates for various causes see the public-comment period as a way to get their views out to a broader constituency.

Town of Hurt council members plan to overhaul the way official communication is done between local government and its citizenry, following a proposed plan unanimously adopted by council in a meeting on Tuesday, June 3. The proposed new approach to town communications came partly in response to concerns raised by residents about transparency, effectiveness of communication, and the spread of rumors – particularly through social media – that have caused contention and confusion in the town from time to time. The town plans to significantly update its official website, and maintain it regularly to share official news; scheduled meetings; the town code; link to livestreamed council meetings; and other resources. The effort is meant to bolster transparency, and have a consolidated place for official information pertaining to the town and its residents. The town also plans to discontinue using its Facebook page as a primary means of communication. The town plans to start live streaming its meetings on YouTube instead of Facebook Live.

Thirty-one elected officials in Colorado have asked to remove their personal contact information from a state campaign finance database in the wake of Saturday’s shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers. The state’s TRACER website was taken offline Saturday after the attack, said Jack Todd, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees the website. The decision was jointly made between the office and legislative leadership, Todd said, so that state lawmakers and other elected officials could file new requests to strike their addresses and phone numbers from the publicly accessible database. Thus far, at least 31 elected officials have filed the requests.

We often rag on the state Legislature, the most highly paid lawmakers among the 50 states, who can also pocket unlimited outside income and face no term limits. But sometimes they get it right, as what happened with two bills improving the state Freedom of Information Law. Thank you to state Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and the 62 other senators and to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and his 149 colleagues. Gov. Hochul should sign both measures into law as soon as possible.