Citizens Time at the Franklin City School Board’s regular monthly meetings will continue to be held near the end of those meetings and in accordance with previously established policies until the board navigates a multi-step policy change process. The board had voted on Dec. 18 to adjust its policy related to comments from the public made during board meetings, moving them toward the beginning of the meetings and significantly reducing the advance notice needed to sign up to speak. … Ward 2 Board Member and Board Vice Chair Wydia Bailey, who ran the Dec. 18 meeting in the absence of Ward 4 Board Member and Board Chair Cristina Boone, made a motion at that meeting to amend the meeting’s agenda, adding a discussion on changing Citizens Time with the goal of reviewing it, researching it and voting on it that evening. … Boone, present for the Jan. 15 meeting, addressed the status of the policy near the beginning of the meeting. “I’d like to give an announcement in the beginning so everyone is aware and we’re all on one accord,” she said. “Last meeting, there was something for Citizens Time to be placed in the front of the meeting, and it was done incorrectly. It was not voted correctly.”
(I wrote about the Dec. 18 meeting in this Substack piece: https://meganrhynevcog.substack.com/p/the-problem-isnt-the-vote-its-how)

A hearing to consider whether to delay the trial to remove Purcellville Vice Mayor Carl “Ben” Nett will take place Feb. 26, following a phone conference between the parties and a Loudoun County Circuit Court judge on Tuesday morning. A petition to recall Nett and three other Purcellville council members from office was submitted by town residents last April. Special Prosecutor Eric Olsen has moved forward with the case against Nett and three-day trial – the first of its kind in Virginia – is set to begin March 2.

Martinsville Commonwealth’s Attorney Patrick Flinn said Tuesday evening that he has found “valid grounds” for a citizen petition seeking to remove Mayor LC Jones from office to proceed in court. … The Martinsville City Council convened in Council Chambers at 5 p.m. Tuesday and immediately invoked a closed session that lasted over two hours. The closed-session portion of the agenda indicated that there would be discussion and consideration of the acquisition of property related to the ongoing courthouse show-cause litigation and facility study, and consultation with legal counsel regarding the dilapidated Municipal Building. A second closed-session item included consulting legal counsel on matters under the Conflict of Interests Act and the Attorney-Client Privilege. The agenda was amended about six hours before the meeting began to include an open-session discussion and reconsideration of the minutes of a Nov. 12 meeting, but Jones abruptly adjourned the meeting after a 4-1 vote to certify the closed session, with Councilman Aaron Rawls casting the only dissenting vote. There was no mention of the added agenda item.

The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, in a 6-1 vote, censured member Timothy Dudley, Staunton River District supervisor, in a resolution adopted Tuesday night, Feb. 17, during the board’s business meeting. Dudley voted against the motion. All other board of supervisors members voted to approve it. Though several members said they took no pleasure in taking this action, and emphasized that the action is not retaliatory or personal, they affirmed that the board had to abide by its Code of Ethics and bylaws. They “have to do the right thing,” said Robert Tucker, board chair and Banister District supervisor. … The censureship removes Dudley from all board-appointed committees, commissions, and boards for the remainder of his elected term, per the resolution adopted.

Video shows a fight between young people that escalated into a shooting inside the Springfield Town Center mall on Friday evening. A 19-year-old was wounded, and a 17-year-old was arrested, Fairfax County’s police chief said on News4. Video released by the Fairfax County Police Department shows a conversation between young men become a brawl, with multiple people throwing punches. As shoppers walk around the mall, a young man pulls a gun. An investigation is ongoing. Anyone with potentially relevant information is asked to contact police.
Note: I included this in today’s clips as a reminder that video and body-worn camera footage can be released.

When it comes to national politics, Americans are fiercely divided across a range of issues, including gun control, election security and vaccines. It’s not new for Republicans and Democrats to be at odds over issues, but things have reached a point where even the idea of compromising appears to be anathema, making it more difficult to solve thorny problems. But things are much less heated at the local level. A survey of more than 1,400 local officials by the Carnegie Corporation and CivicPulse found that local governments are “largely insulated from the harshest effects of polarization.” Communities with fewer than 50,000 residents proved especially resilient to partisan dysfunction. Why this difference? As a political scientist, I believe that lessons from the local level not only open a window onto how polarization works but also the dynamics and tools that can help reduce it. … Addressing tangible needs keeps local leaders’ attention fixed on specific problems that call out for specific solutions, not lengthy ideological debates.