Transparency News 9/4/15

Friday, September 4, 2015

State and Local Stories


Faced with a frank assessment of their public perception Thursday, members of Richmond City Council pledged to work better together and with the administration of Mayor Dwight C. Jones in the coming year. But as they called out goals during a visioning process at a daylong retreat at the University of Richmond, one unfulfilled requirement laid bare the challenges all parties have faced in working together to move the city forward. The hope expressed by 4th District Councilwoman Kathy C. Graziano — for “continuing improvement” in the city’s bond rating — comes at a time when a standard year-end financial report due to the state last November has yet to be submitted. Southeastern Institute of Research CEO John W. Martin said in addition to concerns about the financial report, his informal survey of 10 local leaders revealed broader challenges. The perception among some, Martin said, is that Richmond’s strong-mayor form of government is floundering under leaders’ inability to communicate.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Culpeper County Commonwealth’s Attorney Megan Frederick has effectively dropped her appeal of a $1,500 judgment awarded in an assault and battery civil case brought by county IT specialist Todd Frazier. Frederick failed to pay the $1,500 bond—the amount of the judgment—within the 30 days required to move her appeal to circuit court. Frazier, however, did perfect his appeal over the amount of the judgment, which required him to pay only filing fees and other minor costs. His perfection sends the case forward from Culpeper’s General District Court to Culpeper County Circuit Court. Now, according to clerks in both courts, the ball is in Frazier’s court. He may proceed with the appeal and seek a new trial or he may ask the court to drop his appeal.
Free Lance-Star

The Fairfax County School Board has hired Goli Trump as its new auditor general, effective Sept. 28. The addition of the position is “the latest steps in the board’s efforts to make the School Board audit function more robust and independent,” said School Board Chairman Pat Hynes. Trump will join a six-member School Board Audit Office, which is tasked with fostering appropriate controls on finances and ensuring laws and regulations are followed. She will report directly to the School Board through its audit committee, which is comprised of four board members and two county residents.
InsideNOVA

National Stories
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Saying that increased transparency can help ease tensions between police and the public, California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris on Wednesday unlocked state databases on police killings and arrests, while saying law enforcement agencies should be required to report more information about incidents involving force. "The California Department of Justice sits on a trove of data, a treasure trove of data," Harris said at a news conference in Los Angeles. "The spirit behind this is that we want to share this with the public in a way that can encourage better public policy." Dubbed by Harris as the "Open Justice" initiative, her plan is built around a website that gives the public access to three sets of data collected by the department: people who die while in custody; arrests and bookings; and police officers killed or injured on duty.
Governing

The Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB), which sets standards for how state and local governments report their finances, announced this week that it’s considering changing how governments present financial reports. Of note, the GASB says it wants to add a little more uniformity and meaning to the “MD&A” section of annual reports. This section, Management Discussion & Analysis, appears at the beginning of Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs) and is meant to be a more readable summary of the report. It’s supposed to highlight the key points and contain basic facts about the government, its economy and population. That way, the lay-person (because who doesn’t love perusing a good CAFR?) can come away with a basic understanding of the government’s finances. The MD&A section varies wildly from report to report. It’s up to the government to decide what to include in that section. The board also said it wants to explore ways to make more consistent the way budgetary information is presented in annual reports. And underlying all its proposals is a goal to “reduce the complexity of financial statements, which could positively impact the timeliness of governmental financial reporting.”
Governing (second of three items)

Editorials/Columns

Some of us want more government. Some of us want less. There’s one thing, though, that newspaper editorialists of every persuasion can agree on: Whatever size government we have, we don’t want it to operate secretly. That’s one reason why Hillary Clinton is getting roughed up so much over her private e-mail server. Conservatives didn’t much like her anyway, but not even liberal commentators can defend her decision here, since it looks like a flat-out attempt to try an end run around federal disclosure rules. She could be caught drowning kittens and some editorialist somewhere would defend her on the grounds that dogs are better than cats anyway — but mess with the Freedom of Information Act, and there’s no quarter given. Clinton is hardly the only government official who thinks the public’s business is none of your business. Unfortunately, we have some examples close to home. We begin with the Roanoke County School Board, which on Wednesday appointed a new member — in a process cloaked in unnecessary secrecy.
Roanoke Times

Well, that was quick. Dominion Resources says it will no longer include the cost of its charitable donations in the bills it charges its customers.  The practice was highlighted in recent newspaper coverage and criticized by many good-government critics, including current and former state officials, as well as by The Daily Progress. In Virginia, there is nothing illegal about passing along to customers the costs of charitable donations to civic, educational and religious groups. But the practice is illegal is some states. And it raises questions in Virginia for a couple of reasons.
Daily Progress