|
"The dollar amount that the city’s insurance policy dished out to settle the lawsuit against a city police officer is still hush-hush."
|
When the Charlottesville City Council on July 31 appointed Mike Murphy as interim city manager, only three councilors were in the room. Councilor Heather Hill listened to the special meeting over the phone but did not participate. Mayor Nikuyah Walker was available by phone but was under the impression that she could not listen. On Monday, the City Council unanimously passed a policy that would allow absent councilors to both listen in and vote on items if certain conditions are met. The Code of Virginia allows for remote participation in government meetings if a written policy is adopted, is enforced strictly and uniformly, a quorum of members is physically present and the remote participants are able to be heard by all in attendance.
Charlottesville Tomorrow
An insurance pool representing cities around the state — not the city of Poquoson itself — footed the still-secret payout to settle a federal lawsuit against a Poquoson police officer earlier this month, a city official said Monday. The deal to end the excessive force lawsuit against officer Joshua K. Pankoke a couple weeks before trial is being paid by the Virginia Municipal League Insurance Programs, Poquoson Assistant City Manager Graham Wilson told the Daily Press. “The insurance company made the payment, not the city,” Wilson said. “It was not paid for by Poquoson taxpayers.” Meanwhile, the dollar amount that the city’s insurance policy dished out to settle the lawsuit against a city police officer is still hush-hush. The Daily Press filed a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request with Poquoson on Aug. 10 for any city documents that reflect payouts in the case. But city officials soon replied that they have no such documents.
Daily Press
The chairman of the State Board of Elections said Wednesday that he and his colleagues will “use all legal remedies” to ensure the names of Hopewell City Council candidates are presented evenly on the city’s ballot. Registrar Yolanda Stokes said the candidates wrote their names in uppercase on their own paperwork, and she felt obligated to print them with the same capitalization due to wording on the form that seems to give candidates leeway to use nicknames or initials. Stokes contacted the Virginia Department of Elections on Wednesday to inform it of her local board’s vote in support of her ballot, according to emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Stokes said she would do as her board instructed and keep the ballots unchanged, while also indicating she would change them if the state insisted. A state official responded, telling Stokes that the “errors” should be corrected and that she should submit corrected ballots for review. She suggested the controversy over the first ballot her office submitted was caused by a “possible leak” in her office. “Some of the information left my office. How it got outside of my office without the ballots being final is beyond me,” Stokes said. “I addressed it in my office.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Less than a week after its divorce from Northrop Grumman Corp., Virginia has issued a fifth contract to an outside company to provide a portion of the information technology services previously administered under a multibillion-dollar contract with the Fairfax-based technology company. But VITA officials acknowledge they are encountering problems under the new system, including a big backlog of requests for help from the new email provider, Tempus Nova. “The number of tickets has fluctuated over the past few months,” VITA spokeswoman Marcella Williamson said. “Most are related to G Suite services, including email, provided by Tempus Nova. A backlog of tickets has been an ongoing issue since we moved to G Suite services with Tempus Nova in the spring.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch
A bill that would protect Virginians’ religious affiliations from being reported to the federal government will head back to the General Assembly next year. The state’s Freedom of Information Act Advisory Council, which settles FOIA disputes and reviews legislation pertaining to the law, worked through the technicalities of the legislation this week. Tran introduced the bill in the last General Assembly session, where it was referred from the General Laws committee to the FOIA Council to consider over the summer. Most of the FOIA Advisory Council supported the bill too, taking aim at the power the federal government can exercise over the state.
Virginia Mercury
|
