The Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. hired a lawyer to say if it was subject to FOIA.
Roger Wiley, the FOI lawyer, said in his opinion it was not a public body, and thus not covered by FOIA.
The corporation said it would operate as a public body anyway — as urged by Wiley and the local newspaper ’s editorial page.
The Martinsville Bulletin pointed out that when the corporation was set up, leaders vowed it would conduct its business in public to enhance public confidence in its decisions.
(Somewhere along the way, new directors got named who were “accustomed to maneuvering without public accountability,” the Bulletin said.)
Wiley emphasized that openness was a good idea, whatever the technicalities of FOI law.
“I urge you to conduct your meetings in public as much as possible and to disclose records on request, unless there is a compelling reason not to do so, ” he wrote.
The corporation gets 47.4 percent of its funding from the City of Martinsville and Henry County.
It has a $1.9 million budget, and four of its nine directors are appointed by the two local governments.
Wiley cited an opinion from the FOI Advisory Council that indicated the corporation would not be a public body unless it got 55 percent to 66 percent of its funding from public sources.
“While these opinions do not have the force of law, they may be considered persuasive by the courts when considering FOIA issues,” Wiley wrote.
The FOI statute defines a public body as any entity that “principally” relies on public funding. In the past, that’s always been interpreted to mean 51 percent, but the state Supreme Court has never ruled on the issue.
Wiley is a member of the FOI Advisory Council and lobbies for local government on FOI issues.