Virginia lawmakers and University of Virginia faculty are raising alarm bells about ongoing patterns of secrecy and lack of transparency surrounding former UVA President Jim Ryan’s resignation in June. Sen. Creigh Deeds (D-Charlottesville) told VPM News he split a $4,500 public records bill with another legislator after he’d received inadequate responses to his questions about Ryan’s resignation and the role played by Board of Visitors members….In late July, VPM News sent a FOIA request seeking copies of communications between BOV members regarding, broadly, investigations involving the US Department of Justice beginning in March. The university responded with a cost estimate of $34,110.56 for review and redaction of a “voluminous” number of identified records. (UVA’s estimate waived the collection fee.) VPM News follow-up questions — an effort to narrow the records request and lower costs — went unanswered for nearly three months. On Nov. 20, UVA FOIA Officer Faith Hill said the newsroom’s broad request netted roughly 77,000 documents. She estimated FOIA office employees would assess 30-50 pages per hour at $22 per hour. If UVA’s FOIA employees review and redact 50 pages per hour (and each of the 77,000 documents is exactly one page), it would take roughly 1,550 hours or 194 business days (most of a year) to fully meet VPM’s original request at the quoted cost.
Stafford County Commonwealth Attorney Eric Olsen, who was appointed as the special prosecutor in the recall petition by the voters of Purcellville against Purcellville Vice Mayor Carl “Ben” Nett has filed paperwork in the Loudoun County Circuit Court today seeking his removal from office. During a previously scheduled court hearing today to discuss criminal charges against Nett, Olsen said he was issuing a ruling to show cause for his removal. By statute, once the order has been executed, a court date must be set between five and 10 days, Olsen said.
We’re all for making the on-again, off-again Grange at 10Main, an ambitious residential and commercial development on the edge of Smithfield’s Historic District, a win-win for the developer and the community, but town officials should be mindful of what has undermined prior iterations of the project: secrecy by elected and appointed leadership. A statement by Town Manager Michael Stallings just before this week’s edition went to press is a step in the right direction. After months of closed-door discussions by the Town Council, Stallings has at least given citizens a broad update on what might be afoot. It is appreciated and needed.
