A Botetourt County citizen’s lawsuit alleges that the county violated Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act when it approved documentation advancing the Google data center project in Troutville. Robert Dallas, a retired anesthesiologist who said he lives near the Botetourt Center at Greenfield site, filed the suit on Monday, seeking to invalidate the county’s economic development performance agreement with the limited liability company behind the project. The suit asks the Botetourt County Circuit Court to “rescind all actions” carried out in connection with the June 2025 economic development performance agreement. … According to the suit, the county’s board of supervisors did not disclose on its published agenda that it would be discussing the agreement or a resolution to enact it in a closed meeting on June 24, 2025. After the board returned to public session, it voted 5-0, with no discussion, to approve them, after they were added to the agenda during the meeting, the case alleges. … “At no time … did the board reasonably identify the substance of the performance agreement resolution or the performance agreement itself, despite having agreed to both at the closed meeting immediately preceding the performance agreement resolution’s being added to the agenda as a walk-on item,” the lawsuit reads.

Isle of Wight County Schools has launched a new online portal intended to simplify and streamline Freedom of Information Act requests. The school system is asking requesters to submit future requests for public records at https://iwcs.justfoia.com/publicportal/home/track. The cloud-based platform is made by JustFOIA, a Tallahassee, Florida, developer of public sector records-request management software used by over 500 clients in 45 states, including cities, counties, law enforcement, state agencies and school systems. The landing page allows users to submit a new FOIA request, track the status of an existing request or search a database of others’ FOIA requests to see if what they’re looking for is already available for viewing. While requesters aren’t required to use the portal, Lynn Briggs, spokesperson and FOIA officer for IWCS, says she hopes those who have been submitting requests through email will transition to the new platform.