Transparency News 6/27/17

Tuesday, June 27, 2017



State and Local Stories

Loudoun supervisors awarded a $4.7-million, two-year contract Thursday night to one of Sheriff Mike Chapman’s (R) highest campaign contributors for inmate medical and psychiatry services at the county jail. Every member of the board but Supervisor Koran Saines (D-Sterling) signed off on the contract. The Sterling supervisor said he had to abstain from the vote because Correct Care Solutions (CCS), a Nashville-based company, contributed to Chapman’s campaign. He said it was a “personal belief.” The $3,000 campaign contribution from CCS to Chapman last year also gave other supervisors pause. Several board members asked county staff and a representative from the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) officials exactly what Chapman’s role was in the procurement process. 
Loudoun Times-Mirror

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors wants the public to weigh in on whether the next board should get a roughly 62 percent pay raise.  The board voted 6-3 last week -- with supervisors Ralph Buona (R-Ashburn), Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin) and Suzanne Volpe (R-Algonkian) opposed -- to send consideration on the pay bump to a public hearing on July 12 to get more citizen input on the idea.  If the increase is approved, it would raise the current board salaries of $41,200 to $66,826 starting in 2020, the compensation for the chair from $50,000 to $81,100 and compensation for the vice chair from $45,320 to $73,363. After that, supervisors would receive a 2 percent salary increase for three years.
Loudoun Times-Mirror

The search for explanations for Petersburg’s financial crisis took another turn on Monday as city police collected records from the Treasurer’s Office at City Hall. “They’re going through my office as a part of the forensic audit,” said Treasurer Kevin A. Brown. “I answered some questions upstairs and now they’re going through my office to make sure everything I said was correct.” Brown said he was interviewed for about an hour. “We’re simply finishing our forensic audit of the Treasurer’s Office,” said Interim City Manager Tom Tyrrell. “And we thought it was in the best interest of all concerned that we had unrestricted access to all the books and records.” Several Petersburg police officers were on hand just in case, but Tyrrell noted that everyone, including the treasurer, was fully cooperative.
Progress-Index

No participants showed for either session of Isle of Wight County’s first public forum concerning its 2018 Comprehensive Plan. The county had scheduled two blocks of time on Thursday at Carrsville Elementary School to solicit input, one from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and the other from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The only attendees at either session were employees of the county or members of the Planning Commission. Ed Easter, a resident of Isle of Wight’s Newport District, also came to the afternoon session just as an observer.  Had more people attended, they would have viewed a brief presentation on the purpose of a comprehensive plan and participated in the same exercise that the members of the county’s Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission conducted during a joint work session in early June.
Tidewater News



National Stories
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Board members and employees of Michigan’s new medical marijuana licensing board  — responsible for issuing potentially lucrative licenses in an industry expected to gross more than $700 million a year – must submit detailed financial disclosure forms under legislation passed late last year. But as the board prepared to hold its first meeting in Lansing this afternoon, it wasn’t clear how much of that information would be made public, or when. Some of the disclosures are only required to be made to the office of Gov. Rick Snyder, which is exempt from the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. Other disclosures must be made to the five-member board, which is subject to the FOIA.
Detroit Free Press

The Howard County, Md., government website was hacked Sunday with messages supporting the Islamic State, part of a larger attack on local government websites around the country. A message on the website Sunday afternoon said President Donald Trump "will be held accountable" for "every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries." It went on to express love for the self-declared Islamic State, also known as ISIS, the organization the United States and its allies are fighting in Iraq, Syria and other countries. The website of Ohio Gov. John Kasich and pages of local governments in Ohio and New York showed similar messages.
Governing

The Trump administration is refusing to release a redacted version of a key report President Barack Obama received in January on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, court filings show. Then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper made public an unclassified version of that report, but the Electronic Privacy Information Center brought a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit demanding a copy of the classified report given to Obama at the same time. EPIC said the unclassified version omitted "critical technical evidence" that could help the public assess U.S. intelligence agencies' claims that Russia did make efforts to affect the outcome of the 2016 race. However, a top official in the Office of the director of National Intelligence, Daniel Coats, said in a court declaration filed Monday that releasing the original report with classified information blacked out would be a field day for foreign intelligence operatives, including the very Russians the report accuses of undertaking the interference.
Politico


Editorials/Columns


THE HIRING of a city manager is the most important decision a city council can make. That individual, in the council-manager form of government, serves as the head of operations for all functions under the direction of city hall. She or he is responsible for spinning the straw of council members’ ideas into the gold of policy affecting citizens. As such, the selection of a city manager is among the most consequential actions for a community. That person sets the tone for how government interacts with the public and, through the budget process, attempts to chart a responsible course for applying funds to areas of need. It is therefore essential that the citizens be integrally involved at every step of that process. It helps ensure that the candidate selected for so powerful a role begins with the full faith and confidence of the people he or she will be expected to serve. So naturally, the Norfolk City Council is conducting its search for a new city manager behind closed doors.
Virginian-Pilot