Transparency News 1/30/20
Thursday
January 30, 2020
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
Contact us at vcog@opengovva.org
state & local news stories
FOLLOW THE BILLS WE FOLLOW WITH VCOG'S
BILL TRACKING CHART
In their fight to make evictions lawful and rare, housing lawyers with the Virginia Legal Aid Society are combing through hundreds of pages of court records to build a comprehensive database of eviction cases in Lynchburg. When completed, the first-of-its-kind database will give housing advocates the tools to map out the scope of court-ordered evictions across the Hill City and to identify individual neighborhoods most affected by the region’s eviction crisis.
The News & Advance
Emails between Danville city councilmen reveal possible concern over proposed wording for a Danville City Council resolution in response to expected gun-control legislation from Richmond. In one exchange, Vice Mayor Lee Vogler stated in a Dec. 12 email to councilmen Fred Shanks and Madison Whittle and Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, that Mayor Alonzo Jones “is concerned about pissing off Richmond.” During an interview Wednesday regarding his emailed statement about Jones, Vogler said he was speculating about a general sentiment among council members. “I didn’t hear anyone say they were concerned about pissing off Richmond,” Vogler said, adding he didn’t “know why I said that in that way.”The Register & Bee obtained the email exchanges from the city pertaining to a proposed Second Amendment-related resolution through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Register & Bee
The majority of Leesburg Town Council tensions remained behind closed doors this week as council members responded to Councilman Neil Steinberg’s recent letter to the editor and held two closed sessions about the performance of Town Attorney Barbara Notar. After Tuesday night’s closed session, council unanimously directed Town Manager Kaj Dentler to “proceed with discussion with the town attorney as discussed in closed session,” Mayor Kelly Burk said. Last week, Steinberg, Burk and Vice Mayor Fernando “Marty” Martinez sent a letter to local newspapers alleging that council members Suzanne Fox, Tom Dunn, Ron Campbell and Josh Thiel were working together to show Notar the door. They further suggested that campaign donations from Graydon Manor developer David Gregory were motivating Fox’s actions. Fox has denied the donation allegations, and the other accused council members said Tuesday night that they are not working together.
The Loudoun Times-Mirror
Shenandoah County supervisors blocked a member’s attempt to broaden the search for Industrial Development Authority recruits beyond friends and acquaintances. The Board of Supervisors voted 6-0 on Tuesday to appoint Mike Koontz to fill one of three vacant seats on the IDA. Before the vote, District 3 Supervisor Bradley Pollack recommended that board members table action on Koontz’s appointment and filling the other seats. Pollack voiced support for Koontz, a longtime friend, to serve on the IDA. Pollack said he had spoken with Koontz about the vacancy before LSC Communications closed earlier this month, putting hundreds of people out of work. “It would be my suggestion that we make a full-blown, public effort to try to recruit the best and brightest for the Industrial Development Authority, and Mike is willing to step back and wait for that process to go through, and I’ll talk to (District 5 Supervisor Dennis) Morris about his position,” Pollack said. “He’s got a couple of candidates. I’ve got a couple of candidates for mine. District 1 Supervisor and Chairman John R. “Dick” Neese said the board discussed Koontz’s possible appointment in closed session and a consensus of members agreed to appoint Baker’s choice. Pollack noted that the plant in Strasburg closed after the board reached the consensus.
The Northern Virginia Daily
stories of national interest
Hundreds of Social Security numbers could be contained in unredacted documents housed on the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Civil Courts public website. The Tribune-Review located federal tax lien documents filed each year from 1997 to 2010 that display unredacted tax identification numbers. In many cases, they are an individual’s Social Security number. Others are Employer Identification Numbers, used for businesses. An average of 1,700 federal tax lien records connected to individuals and businesses are accessible on the civil courts website for each year. Tax lien records indicate unpaid taxes on property. Allegheny County Director of Court Records Michael McGeever said the county did not retroactively redact these documents after it purchased redaction software in 2012.
Governing
