Transparency News, 4/24/20
Friday
April 24, 2020
April 24, 2020
state & local news stories
"Metro didn’t post about the technical difficulties for nearly 90 minutes as the meeting went on without the public being able to observe."
Amid the honking horns, fainting leaders, plexiglass boxes and face mask fashion, it was easy to miss the governor's amendments to the budget bills that were approved Wednesday, unanimously by the House and with minimal dissent in the Senate, that allow public bodies to meet electronically during the time of a declared emergency "when it is impracticable or unsafe to assemble a quorum in a single location." As an open government advocate, of course I'm sympathetic to the argument that the amendment could be used to undermine public oversight. And I agree that the language is not perfect and will need to be revisited. But mostly, I agree that this amendment of limited application is necessary and all we've got right now.
Megan Rhyne, VCOG Blog
Fairfax Circuit Court Judge David Oblon ruled April 21, 2020, that settlements under the infant settlement statute (§8.01-424(A)) cannot be sealed. The court relied on Perreault v. The Free Lance-Star, under which the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that wrongful death settlements cannot be kept from the public, and the similarity between the wrongful death statute and the infant settlement statute. The court left open the door for sealing when there is "credible, particularized evidence of the child's medical condition necessary to justify a complete sealing of the settlement terms."
Read the opinion on VCOG's website
Government agencies are learning to transition public meetings from in-person to online during the pandemic. Metro was able to pull off a virtual board of directors meeting without a hitch two weeks ago, but it struggled to get its live stream working for today’s meeting, confusing several online attendees. The meeting was set up as a video conference streamed to YouTube. But the livestream started after the meeting already began. It then cut out after about six minutes and it was unclear if the meeting was paused. Metro continued the meeting during the issues. Metro didn’t post about the technical difficulties for nearly 90 minutes as the meeting went on without the public being able to observe. Government board meetings, including WMATA’s, must be open to the public by law unless they meet in executive session. Board Chair Paul Smedberg said in a text that the problem was a YouTube streaming issue. WMATA did eventually post the recorded video of the meeting about three hours after it ended.
WAMU
It took three weeks for Virginia to receive its first shipment of personal protective equipment from Northfield Medical Manufacturing after signing a roughly $27 million contract with the Norfolk-based company on March 31. The lengthy lead time was just one of the unusual features of the procurement agreement, said Virginia’s Secretary of Finance, Aubrey Layne. Operating amid a chaotic global supply chain, it took state officials weeks to parse through a list of more than 100 potential vendors. Details from the state’s contract, released to the Mercury on Thursday through a Freedom of Information Act request, show that the order — scheduled to be delivered in periodic shipments, based on availability, “through June 30, 2020, or until the emergency PPE equipment is no longer needed in support of COVID-19” — includes 2.5 million N95 respirators and the same number of KN95 masks, a similar model regulated under different standards.
Virginia Mercury
Charlottesville will launch a new website on Monday that will have a new address — charlottesville.gov. The new website will function better and be easier to use, according to a news release. The site will feature a subscription-based notification messaging service. The city spent $85,653 for the website redesign. The old website will be available for archival purposes and all meeting video and records will be uploaded to an online portal.
The Daily Progress
Megan Rhyne, VCOG Blog
Fairfax Circuit Court Judge David Oblon ruled April 21, 2020, that settlements under the infant settlement statute (§8.01-424(A)) cannot be sealed. The court relied on Perreault v. The Free Lance-Star, under which the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that wrongful death settlements cannot be kept from the public, and the similarity between the wrongful death statute and the infant settlement statute. The court left open the door for sealing when there is "credible, particularized evidence of the child's medical condition necessary to justify a complete sealing of the settlement terms."
Read the opinion on VCOG's website
Government agencies are learning to transition public meetings from in-person to online during the pandemic. Metro was able to pull off a virtual board of directors meeting without a hitch two weeks ago, but it struggled to get its live stream working for today’s meeting, confusing several online attendees. The meeting was set up as a video conference streamed to YouTube. But the livestream started after the meeting already began. It then cut out after about six minutes and it was unclear if the meeting was paused. Metro continued the meeting during the issues. Metro didn’t post about the technical difficulties for nearly 90 minutes as the meeting went on without the public being able to observe. Government board meetings, including WMATA’s, must be open to the public by law unless they meet in executive session. Board Chair Paul Smedberg said in a text that the problem was a YouTube streaming issue. WMATA did eventually post the recorded video of the meeting about three hours after it ended.
WAMU
It took three weeks for Virginia to receive its first shipment of personal protective equipment from Northfield Medical Manufacturing after signing a roughly $27 million contract with the Norfolk-based company on March 31. The lengthy lead time was just one of the unusual features of the procurement agreement, said Virginia’s Secretary of Finance, Aubrey Layne. Operating amid a chaotic global supply chain, it took state officials weeks to parse through a list of more than 100 potential vendors. Details from the state’s contract, released to the Mercury on Thursday through a Freedom of Information Act request, show that the order — scheduled to be delivered in periodic shipments, based on availability, “through June 30, 2020, or until the emergency PPE equipment is no longer needed in support of COVID-19” — includes 2.5 million N95 respirators and the same number of KN95 masks, a similar model regulated under different standards.
Virginia Mercury
Charlottesville will launch a new website on Monday that will have a new address — charlottesville.gov. The new website will function better and be easier to use, according to a news release. The site will feature a subscription-based notification messaging service. The city spent $85,653 for the website redesign. The old website will be available for archival purposes and all meeting video and records will be uploaded to an online portal.
The Daily Progress
Categories:
