In this month’s roundup of public access and transparency developments across Virginia, we see the continued tension between the public’s right to know and the reluctance of officials to share. 

Personnel decisions were a recurring theme. Whether it was the quiet parting of Richmond’s inspector general, a controversial superintendent firing in Norfolk or the abrupt administrative leave of the Martinsville city manager just one day after a pay raise, the public is left in the dark about the process and reasoning behind major leadership changes. Meanwhile, records revealed questionable expenditures, behind-the-scenes negotiations and selective information sharing—raising serious concerns about oversight and accountability.

Local boards and agencies continued to wrestle with public participation and communication. Some proposed tighter rules on who can speak and how often, while others held meetings with little notice or skipped livestreaming altogether.

As it often does, this month’s newsletter underscores how fragile public access can be when policies are vague, enforcement is weak or officials are unmotivated to engage.

Once again, a shout-out to VCOG’s summer legal fellow, Maddie Walker, who provided some of the content for this month’s newsletter.

VCOG secured approval for the Virginia State Bar for a 3-hour continuing legal education course for attorneys. The presentation can also be pared down to a one-hour course focusing solely on meetings or records. VCOG intends to adapt its presentation for submission to the FOIA Council, which is developing an approval process for third parties to conduct the required training for FOIA officers. For now, get on VCOG’s MCLE schedule: vcog@opengovva.org.

The National Freedom of Information Coalition (of which VCOG is the administrator) was a co-recipient of a three-year $1.25 million grant to develop an AI-based tool to assist journalists in identifying and acquiring public records in their reporting. The grant also includes a partnership with attorneys from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to assist with litigation that might arise. Learn more about this exciting opportunity at NFOIC.org.

The Richmond City Council quietly parted ways with the Richmond inspector general earlier this year through an agreement clad in secrecy. The Richmonder attempted to obtain the contract through public records requests through FOIA, but was met with a series of evasive responses that failed to even verify the agreement’s existence. The inspector general was granted $29,809 in severance.

An internal audit of Richmond city fuel cards found at least $44,000 in “questionable transactions.” The audit cited a lack of effective controls over the thousands of purchasing cards issued to various city employees. Meanwhile, invoices and contracts obtained through FOIA showed that city officials spent nearly half a million dollars since 2019 on consulting services to run the Richmond Department of Finance. The hired consultant billed 600.5 hours at a rate of $200 per hour for services. And, the city would not release spending records related to a former fire department employee who may have spent more than $2 million of city funds on contracts with businesses registered to himself and others. The city claimed that the financial records were now part of an internal investigation and release would “negatively impact” that investigation.

Meanwhile, court records appeared to contradict statements made by the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority chief executive officer, who said in early July that the authority was trying to avoid evicting residents who owed less than $5,000 in unpaid rent. The court records from the month before showed that actions were being taken against seven residents who owed less than $5,000. Public records also revealed that the CEO hired a company to pay residents of a public housing community to hold signs at a city council meeting in favor of an agenda item the authority favored.

The Richmond Police Chief announced that the department terminated access granted to a federal ATF analyst who had been using Richmond’s Flock Safety license plate reader system for immigration-related enforcement—an unauthorized move that violated department policy. The ATF has since apologized, stating the searches were tied to criminal investigations, not immigration. Moving forward, no federal agencies will have access to Richmond’s license plate reader data. 

And the Richmond School Board considered potential changes to its public comment period, including limiting the “cadence” of speakers, meaning how often individuals can address the board. The policy would be similar to the city council’s policy, which says that no one can speak at council meetings more than four times a year and no more than once within a three-month period. According to The Richmonder, it’s unclear whether the city council enforces this rule.

Locating school board public comment policies in Virginia isn’t always straightforward. VCOG Legal Fellow Maddie Walker searched 10 districts and both access hurdles and policy quirks that may affect your ability to participate in public meetings.

Fifteen years after iPads entered council chambers, questions about texts, DMs and the use of personal devices and accounts still dominate FOIA discussions. Even when well-intentioned, such advances can hamper our ability to hold officials accountable.

FOIA cases aren’t like other litigation. The law anticipates that ordinary citizens will enforce their rights in court. Yet, we still see cases dismissed or delayed for failing to meet requirements — like service of process by a sheriff — that aren’t in the law.

A reporter’s FOIA request to the Norfolk school system was turned away for not being specific enough, even though it asked for sent and received email messages from the school board chair over two days. The request was further delayed because the school board offices were to be closed from June 25 through July 11. According to the reporter, in an email to VCOG, he finally began receiving documents after sending the city a copy of a petition he intended to file in general district court to enforce his FOIA rights. The settlement required the school district to refund the reporter’s filing fees and also compensated him for his time.

The emails relate to an unexpected vote to fire the superintendent in June. Later, when the same reporter challenged the lack of a public announcement that the school district would be awarding the superintendent severance pay, the city’s attorney said public disclosure was clear in her contract and therefore unnecessary before the termination vote.  “I believe the purpose of ‘sunshine’ statutes is to afford people the opportunity to comment upon its terms before it’s voted upon. An opportunity to affect the outcome. Here, the contract had already been voted upon years ago and its terms could not be changed so it would be a useless step when the dye [sic] was set,” City Attorney Bernard Pishko wrote. A deputy city attorney indicated he circulated a draft separation agreement among board members, retrieved the copies from them and indicated they were protected by the attorney-client work product exemption.

Amid the swirling allegations, the school board held its annual two-day retreat, held on a Monday and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., was not livestreamed.

The Martinsville city manager filed a response to a city council member’s lawsuit that stems from the member’s removal from a council meeting by a sheriff’s deputy. The city manager said she was immune from the allegations and insisted that it was the mayor who presides over council meetings.

The deputy missed the deadline to file a response, but eventually filed one that said the council member gave a “non-verbal signal” that he would not stop talking about his opposition to the manager’s proposed pay raise. The deputy said the manager then “nodded towards me,” which the deputy understood to be a “non-verbal instruction” to remove the member from the building. It was a similar gesture, the deputy said, to one the manager used to remove someone from a different meeting who was being disruptive.

Meanwhile, a day after the city council approved a pay increase for the city manager (from $183,500 to $215,000), the same city council voted to place her on administrative leave, effective immediately, and to pursue a forensic audit of the city’s finances.

Despite releasing the terms of a severance agreement when the first superintendent of public instruction, Jillian Balow, left the Youngkin administration two years ago, the office refused to release a similar agreement between the administration and Lisa Coons, who left the position in May of this year. The administration did release records indicating that Coons received $100,000 in severance pay.

Despite stating that claims that prison officials are thwarting communications about prison conditions, the Department of Corrections’ spokesman referenced an unwritten rule that communications staff does not respond to inquiries without proof of a publication home.

Still insisting that there was never a policy in place, Greene County officials said that staff are free to talk to the press. The Greene County Record reported in May that county employees said they had been forbidden from speaking directly to the press about county business.

The Department of Elections conducted its first random audits of campaign finance reports and released the results, but it has refused to allow staff to be questioned by reporters. Some of the seven candidates said they were not made aware of their errors or given a chance to correct them before the report was released to the public.

A Rockingham County School Board member was fined $9,200 by the Department of Elections for failing to file campaign finance reports on time since late 2021. On July 17, he filed seven of the 11 overdue reports.

The Fredericksburg City School Board recently added a travel policy. It may have been partly in response to the extensive travel expenses of two members, one of whom insisted that a first-class ticket for her flight to Atlanta for a conference was necessary because the “comfort ticket” was sold out and, “Main seating is all the way in the back and [I] had a meeting to get to.” She also asserted that board members should not have to pay out of pocket and file for reimbursement later.

The Alexandria Journalism Project obtained an email chain through FOIA that called into question the authenticity of records staff gave to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is investigating safety concerns around the safety of workers performing tree care for the Department of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Activities.

The chair of the Arlington County Board of Supervisors challenged audience members to come up with their own suggestions for how the board conducts its public comment period. The chair justified the one-speaker-one-topic limit, even though meetings may include multiple action items and public hearings, because it was unfair to others waiting for those hearings to sit through interminable public comment.

Lynchburg’s human resources department alerted city employees that a city councilmember might send them an email asking them to participate in a personnel review of the city manager. The HR director stressed that the survey was voluntary and was not being sent by anyone other than the council member. The message included this warning: “If you do choose to participate, the city is not able to protect any personally identifiable information that may be collected, and your responses may be subject to [the Freedom of Information Act].”

The Purcellville vice mayor and the town manager were arrested in late July. The former was charged with six felonies, including misuse of the Virginia Criminal Information Network, and the latter was charged with two felony counts related to bid rigging and conspiracy.

The Purcellville mayor went ahead with his plan to hold a strategic retreat, even though two of the seven members said they would be out of town, and a third member thought it was inappropriate to have an important meeting the same day as a town festival, where many citizens would be instead. Three more members attended the session, while the seventh member attended for an hour of the six-hour session.

The Isle of Wight Economic Development Authority began recording its meetings and posting the recordings on their website the day after. The authority stopped short of livestreaming the meetings, though, saying livestreaming required someone from the county’s IT department to sit in the control room.

A member of the Fluvanna County School Board resigned in order to take a teaching job, but not before the board chair chastised those who leaked information about the member’s dual role (which is prohibited by state law) for creating a “very unnecessary distraction.” He also said he didn’t attend a June meeting, which defeated the quorum, because he knew “this political circus is getting ready to happen,” and added, “If you’re angry with me for doing that, I don’t care.”

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