AUGUSTA COUNTY — The Board of Supervisors spent $440,000 on a consultant’s study to bring an industrial “megasite” to the Weyers Cave area, then tried to keep it under wraps even though it wasn’t tied to a specific industrial prospect. Farmer Betty Jo Hamilton’s FOIA request for details on the project yielded the existence of the 400-page document, consultant’s fees and an assertion from the county that further information was exempt from public disclosure. Supervisors Kaye Frye and Nancy Sorrells tried to tell citizens what the document said about possible school, road, water and sewer improvements, but the board majority insisted on secrecy. The Staunton News-Leader said the two female supervisors were the only members who demonstrated a clear understanding of FOIA by advocating loosening some of the board-imposed secrecy. Despite — or because of — talk that the megasite was the most competitive in Virginia for a car-manufacturing plant, citizens were angered that the plan ran counter to what most county residents said they wanted at a series of public hearings last year. “Will (the supervisors) comprehend that planning an industrial megasite in secret while soliciting public input for a comprehensive plan with a focus on controlled growth and preserving farmland seems hypocritical in the extreme?,” the News-Leader asked. Eventually, the study was forced into the open.
CHARLOTTE COUNTY — Supervisors and county resident Larry Lail are still at odds over whether the county complied with his FOIA request for information on travel spending. However, Lail could draw satisfaction from the board’s action requiring the county administrator and other county employees to begin furnishing receipts for expense reimbursements. When Lail asked for receipts for the officials’ travel expenses, he was told they did not exist, and apparently never had existed. The board later went on record with an assertion that its previous no-receipt reimbursements had been “proper and reasonable.”
CHARLOTTESVILLE — The chairman of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors says Charlottesville is violating an agreement he reached last year with Mayor David Brown over treatment of a traffic diverter on Cedar Hill Drive in the city. But, as The Charlottesville Daily Progress noted, “Without an open meeting, without official minutes of business, without a city and county vote on an actual plan or policy, there is no record of what might have been agreed upon. In fact, there is no agreement. The chairman and the mayor alone can’t commit their governments to action.”
CHESTERFIELD COUNTY — The Board of Supervisors approved an 800-acre project in a 4-1 vote at 1:52 a.m. Asked The Richmond Times-Dispatch: “Is it really best for leaders to discuss and resolve important issues when most constituents are settled into a blissful slumber?”
COVINGTON — When the Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Corp. hired Gary Partridge as executive director, Covington Mayor Rob Bennett said,”If people want to find out (his salary), they can do their own investigation.” The Roanoke Times fired off a letter, invoking FOIA. The EDC then disclosed the salary: $94,000, or almost half the agency’s annual budget.
DULLES — A government watchdog group asked Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer to make future meetings of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Review Panel open to the public and the press. The panel began closed-door meetings to formulate a recommendation for the state to pursue either a tunnel or aerial tracks for running Metro through Tysons Corner as part of the project to extend rail to Washington Dulles International Airport. “When you have secret meetings like this with government officials . . . that’s where the trouble can begin,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. “The public has a right to know what is going on and attend the meeting.” The meetings would remain closed to the public, insisted Patrick Natale, executive director of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
ELKTON — In a letter dated May 19, Mayor Wayne Printz told Town Manager Dennis Donachy to quit talking to the media. Donachy reminded him of the First Amendment, and said, “I have the ability to talk to anyone I want.” Five weeks later, Donachy was out of a job, on a 5-0 town council vote.
HALIFAX — Town Council voted 4-3 to go into closed session to discuss “performance of departments.” The council also split on the vote to go into closed session. When Town Manager Carl Espy asked for clarification about what departments would be evaluated in the closed session, one of the four in the majority bloc said it would be decided in the closed meeting. FOIA permits closed sessons to talk about performance of specific officials, not whole departments.
HENRY COUNTY — The Board of Supervisors chose a new chairman and vice chairman on a 5-0 vote, with Supervisor Andy Parker abstaining. Parker said it was clear the other supervisors were aware of who was going to be made chairman before the meeting.
HOPEWELL — An investigation of the police department went on for 17 weeks, cost the city $200,000 (State Police had to send in 10 or so full-time troopers to help keep the peace), and left the public almost completely in the dark. Four dispatchers were placed on administrative leave, with pay, then eventually were called back to work. An administrative probe — involving problems in the evidence room, it seemed — was followed by an FBI investigation. But after four months, citizens still did not know if the problems were criminal or systemic, extending back more than a decade through several police chiefs.
INDEPENDENCE — Town Council spent more than three hours behind closed doors April 20, at a special meeting that was called just one day earlier, with e-mail the only form used to provide the needed public notice. (An earlier meeting got called with just four-minutes’ notice!) The subject of the April 20 meeting was announced as personnel and discrepancies with town records. Discussion of discrepancies in records is not a legitimate closed-door topic unless it’s part of an active police investigation.
LEESBURG — Town Council voted to convert the town’s part-time paralegal position into a full-time attorney position, one day after a closed session supposedly called to deal with a “personnel” matter and a pending lawsuit. According to Leesburg Today, the closed session included a briefing about a staff proposal to hire a second full-time attorney. The apparent FOIA violation was “a breach of trust with the residents they were elected to represent,” the paper said.
PORTSMOUTH — City Councilman Charles Whitehurst, in a snit over having to comply with several FOIA requests he considered unreasonable, announced his withdrawal from a race in which he was a shoo-in for re-election. Two weeks later, he changed his mind, throwing his hat back into the ring as a write-in candidate.
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — With little explanation from school officials, Dorothy “Dot” McCabe, Freedom High School’s first principal, found herself demoted and reassigned to another building in the fall. Chairman Lucy Beauchamp said School Board members could not comment on personnel matters unless McCabe waived her right to confidentiality. In internal school-system memos obtained by The Washington Post, McCabe was criticized for the school’s “climate” and the “tone of school staff,” suggesting that members of the faculty had made insensitive or offensive remarks about the school’s mix of students. McCabe’s backers submitted a petition bearing more than 100 signatures of people calling for her to be retained. The Prince William Education Association said it appeared McCabe had been removed without due process and for vague and unsubstantiated reasons.
RAPPAHANNOCK — With a killer on the loose, Rappahannock County Sheriff Larry Sherertz drew public criticism for waiting three days before revealing that a murder had occurred. Media were notified only after a tip from another county’s law enforcement agency. “Accurate, timely informatio0 — disseminated in an efficient fashion to regional media outlets — can go a long way in alleviating fears and keeping the populace informed,” The Culpeper Star-Exponent editorialized.
RICHMOND — Mayor Doug Wilder keeps establishing advisory committees and commissions that meet in secret to discuss city business. A Freedom of Information Act request for notices of meetings of the mayor’s committees returned just three notices — all for introductory, not working, sessions of three groups. Because most of Wilder’s committees are composed of private citizens (not government employees), and because he doesn’t pay them, the meetings are exempt from FOIA. Reports the committees produce, however, do fall under FOIA, and must be made available for public inspection. That opinion was offered by Maria Everett, director of the FOI Advisory Council’s office.
ROCKY MOUNT — Four members of Town Council met with town staff, a developer and others without notifying the public. If it was a one-way briefing for the council, it was a legal get-together. Otherwise, and more likely, there was back-and-forth discussion, which would be against the law. (Council told the developer to take his plan public if he wanted the go-ahead to build hundreds of homes.)
STAUNTON — Every two years, City Council members convene to elect their mayor and vice mayor. Dickie Bell, who has served on council for 10 years but has never been picked for a leadership role, said he doesn’t care who gets the positions. But he said the internal mayoral and vice mayoral elections were a done deal, that the outcomes had been preordained during one-on-one chats outside the confines of public meetings. The Waynesboro News Virginian noted, “It’s perfectly legal for two members of a governing body to talk government business in the commonwealth. Nevertheless, it’s a slap in the face of open government.”
VIRGINIA BEACH — The School Board picked a new school superintendent, ending one more secretive round in what The Virginian-Pilot called “a distinctly mortifying process.” An editorial commented, “Listening to bad advice from a headhunter, the School Board chose again to select a new front-runner in secret, a process that did nothing to protect it from embarrassment when its first two top candidates withdrew. The School Board could clearly use a refresher course in learning . . . the importance of conducting the people’s business in plain view.”
WAYNESBORO — Eight candidates made the short list for the city’s next school superintendent, but the identities of the candidates were not released to the public. The Virginia School Boards Association recommends that localities keep identities secret, disclosing only a brief breakdown on characteristics such as gender, experience level and geographic representation. That advice is what got Virginia Beach in trouble (see above).
WESTMORELAND COUNTY — When reporters raised questions about the legality of a visit three or more Board of Supervisors members made to a local business, Board Chairman Darryl Fisher lost his temper. The Rev. Fisher was still mad when he returned for the board’s next meeting. After delivering a prayerful opening to the session, he announced the reporters could ask only questions that had been cleared through him. If written queries were made under FOIA, supervisors would decide “on a question by question basis” if an answer would be provided, Fisher said. “If we decide to respond, we will. If we don’t, then we just don’t.” The supervisors also held a closed-door meeting with leaders of the county’s fire and rescue services to exchange ideas on how to improve emergency response in the county, according to Fisher. Other county officials offered different, but equally questionable, reasons for holding the entire discussion behind a closed door.