from the Oct. 11, 2017, Courier-Record in Blackstone
https://www.courier-record.com
Nottoway County Administrator Ronnie Roark violated Virginia’s Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) earlier this year, but the violation wasn’t made “knowingly or willfully.”
That’s the wording in a settlement agreement ordered Friday in Nottoway Circuit Court.
Roark, Nottoway’s Administrator for nearly 43 years, will have to pay costs of the court and $3,500 in attorney fees to complainant Eileen McAfee of Short Pump in Henrico County, plus her $58 court filing fee. Roark reportedly will make payment using his personal funds, not the County’s.
Roark reportedly also has six months to attend a FOIA training session offered by the Virginia Legislative Advisory Council.
Neither Roark nor Mrs. McAfee were in court for Friday’s 1:00 p.m. proceeding.
The violation was a civil matter — not a criminal offense — and is dismissed with Friday’s agreement.
Confidentiality Rejected
Mrs. McAfee, an animal care advocate, says she’s satisfied by the outcome and tells the Courier-Record she “adamantly” rejected a confidentiality requirement sought by Roark’s attorneys.
“That would have made me complicit in a cover-up of withholding information from the public’s right to know how their government officials are managing their business,” Mrs. McAfee said over the week-end. “my focus in brining this case was to ensure that we have transparency in government under FOIA laws.”
Mrs. McAfee says she also rejected an offer that Roark admit to violating only a “technicality” of FOIA.
Mrs. McAfee says she’s “not happy” that Roark’s violation is described in the agreement as having been “non knowingly and willfully made.”
“But I trust my attorney’s advice because we got everything in a letter of commitment from Roark’s attorney and because I’m free to speak about the settlement.”
What Led To Appeal
It was July 21st when Ms. [sic] McAfee’s civil complaint (“Writ of Mandamus”) against Roark was dismissed in General District Court, but substitute Judge Thomas Jones awarded her filing costs and travel expenses totaling $238.24.
Mrs. McAfee called the judge’s ruling both confusing and disappointing, saying that email evidence and court testimony indicated Roark withheld a public document from her and that he falsely claimed it didn’t exist. She appealed to Nottoway Circuit Court and is calling Friday’s settlement a small victory for open government.
Crux Of The Case
On march 28th, Mrs. McAfee emailed a FOIA request to Roar, seeking four items, including “documentation of complaints filed against Mr. (Randy) Leonard, including telephone logs of complaints and correspondence.”
Leonard was hired March 21st as Nottoway’s animal control officer after having been “fired or asked to resign for misconduct” in Amelia County, the Writ claimed.
When Roark responded to Mrs. McAfee, he provided some of the data she requested bu simply responded, “None” to her request for complaints about Leonard.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Terry Royall,, however, had received the same FOIA request from Mrs. McAfee and provided her a march 12th email from Dr. Patricia Morgan of Amelia to the Board of Supervisors and Mrs. Royall. In that letter, Dr. Morgan cited several concerns and complaints about Leonard from his time serving as an animal control officer in Amelia.
Mrs. Royall hand-delivered that letter, as well as a letter of her own about Leonard, to Mr. Roark and the Board of Supervisors on or shortly after that date (March 12th).
Special Prosecutor
Meanwhile, Roark’s inaccurate testimony in General District court is being reviewed by a special prosecutor, Buckingham Commonwealth’s Attorney E. M. Wright.
During the July 21st FOIA complaint hearing, Roark testified under oath that there had been no complaints made since Mr. Leonard began his employment with the County.
However, at the Board’s May 18th regular meeting, prosecutor Royall publicly complained to Supervisors – and Roark – about Officer Leonard’s handling of a dog bite case involving a 9-year-old girl on Cellar Creek Road, and an injured dog elsewhere in the county.
Roark has told this newspaper that he doesn’t consider Mrs. Royall’s public remarks in May as a “complaint” about Leonard but rater “a very public disagreement between the Commonwealth’s Attorney and Animal Control Officer over his handling of a problem. She wanted him to do one thing, and he did something else.”
Not Going Away
Mrs. McAfee says she will continue to be a watchdog on both animal care and transparency challenges in Nottoway County.
“Now that Mr. Roark has been found to be in violation of FOIA, I look forward to receiving all the complaints he had received about Animal Control Officer Randy Leonard prior to the time of my FOIA request on March 28th that he led me to believe didn’t exist.”
Mrs. McAfee says she also takes offense at one of Roark’s earlier motions that described her as “making a mountain out of a molehill.”
Mrs. McAfee remarked over the week-end: “Aside from being insulting, it speaks volumes about their beliefs that hiding documents and denying their existence is nothing more than a minor irritation.”