Transparency News, 4/29/2022
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April 29, 2022
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The trial date for members of the Spotsylvania School Board who are accused of violating Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act has been rescheduled from Friday to a yet-to-be announced date later this spring or early summer. There is a placeholder date of May 31, but it is subject to change, according to a Facebook post by the Edwards Law Firm, which is representing plaintiff Makaila Keyes, the former student who is bringing the suit against School Board Chair Kirk Twigg, Vice Chair April Gillespie and members Lisa Phelps and Rabih Abuismail. The trial, to be held in Spotsylvania General District Court, will determine whether the four board members violated Keyes’s rights under FOIA by failing to hold a proper vote to go into a closed session during the Jan. 11 meeting. The reason for the postponement, according to the law firm’s post, is so the trial can be preceded by an appeal to be heard in Spotsylvania Circuit Court on several other claims brought by Keyes—namely that the four board members also violated FOIA by presenting an agenda that had not been made available to the public in advance and by not letting the public know of the board’s intent to hold a closed meeting.
The Free Lance-Star
Several Charlottesville-area residents have filed a lawsuit alleging the city violated their constitutional rights by declining to provide settlement information about police misconduct suits and other cases. Filed Thursday in Charlottesville Circuit Court by attorney Jeff Fogel, the lawsuit claims that by refusing to provide certain information about police misconduct settlements, the City has violated the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights and violated Virginia Freedom of Information Act guidelines. In the joint complaint/petition, Fogel wrote that the city did not properly respond to a recent series of FOIA requests for documents related to police misconduct and constitutional violation lawsuit settlements from the years 2017 through 2021. The city provided emails and letters related to five cases, most of which were redacted, Fogel wrote. In nearly all instances, Fogel wrote that the city invoked several state code sections to justify its redactions. These code sections allow public entities to withhold “personnel information,” any information covered by the “attorney-client privilege” and attorney “work product.” Although many of the redactions in the documents provided appear to be supported by the exemptions cited, Fogel wrote that there is a notable exception: a July 2020 letter from the lawyer of one of the complainants to a lawyer for the city.
The Daily Progress
Weeks after a local woman discovered she inadvertently had access to the social security numbers for people across the country--visible via her online profile with the Virginia Employment Commission--the agency still has not provided an explanation for the potentially damaging flub. Sierra Williams found the 90-page document dump while checking the status of her unemployment claim with the VEC. “I wondered who else might have this information," Williams told 8News exclusively after the find. Three weeks after the revelation was published by 8News, the VEC has yet to share how or why the agency forwarded the document to Williams.
WRIC
It took a retired Virginia Beach judge very little time to rule in Martinsville’s favor in a civil proceeding on reversion in Henry County Circuit Court Thursday afternoon. The matter at hand: Where will the future litigation proceedings on reversion be held and who will hear them. The verdict: Before a three-judge panel in Martinsville Circuit Court. Stephen Piepgrass, Martinsville’s outside counsel on reversion, told the Bulletin after Thursday’s proceedings that the City first filed to have the two governments’ dispute decided by arbitration, and then the County filed for a stay.
Martinsville Bulletin
Arlington County Board members voted this week to approve a salary bump for themselves of about $20,000 each, a move the lawmakers say will make it easier for a wider array of candidates to take on the full-time workload of legislating in this costly Northern Virginia suburb. The board’s five members, all Democrats, gave themselves the raise — an increase of about 31 to 35 percent over their current salaries — as part of the $1.5 billion county budget they passed Tuesday. Starting in July, the chair will make $83,413, up from $63,413, and all other board members will be paid $77,648, up from $57,648. While the board member roles in Arlington are only part-time positions, the work of overseeing a county staff of nearly 4,000 has not necessarily panned out that way. Current and past lawmakers have reported workloads ranging from 35 to 60 hours a week. Voting on her own salary, Board Chair Katie Cristol noted from the dais, still made her uneasy. But what pushed her over the edge, she said, was hearing the need for higher salaries “from people who would very much like to see somebody else in these seats.”
The Washington Post
The Town of Herndon has held the line on its real estate tax rate as the council approved its $57.3 million budget for fiscal year 2023. The budget, which represents a nearly 3% increase over last year, includes the first pay raises for the Herndon Town Council in nearly 15 years. Not everyone was amenable to pay increases for the Herndon Town Council and mayor. Councilmember pay increased from $4,000 to $15,000, and the mayor’s pay increased from $6,000 to $16,000. The increases will go into effect in the 2023-2024 term. The measure passed with Mayor Sheila Olem casting the lone dissenting vote Tuesday night (April 26). “It’s too big of a raise…especially for this time,” Olem said, adding that she had hoped to examine more modest pay increases for all boards and commissions instead of a big hike for the council. Others said the move incentivizes more candidates to seek office.
FFXnow
Windsor resident Lewis Edmonds has filed a second petition in Isle of Wight County Circuit Court, again seeking to recall School Board member Michael Vines. Circuit Court Judge Carl Eason had dismissed Edmonds’ first petition in March after finding that not one of the more than 200 county residents who signed it had attested to having done so under penalty of perjury as required under state law. Edmonds’ latest petition, which bears 221 signatures of registered voters in Vines’ district, according to Isle of Wight County’s Voter Registrar’s Office, now includes the required perjury warning.
The Smithfield Times
stories of national interest
"If someone files an open records request and is quoted at $20,000, are the records they seek truly publicly accessible?"
If someone files an open records request and is quoted at $20,000, are the records they seek truly publicly accessible? What if someone from Durango files a request and is told they must submit payment in person in Denver, 330 miles away, or by fax machine? Situations like these make it difficult for people to obtain documents and information that, pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA), are meant to be available to the public. High fees and outdated technology commonly act as barriers, but so do lax laws that give sections of government the flexibility to quickly delete certain content, and broad discretion over redaction. State lawmakers Democratic and Republican alike seem to generally agree that if the goal of CORA is to facilitate public access to government, the law has failed. And for years they have threatened comprehensive reform. Governments can charge a maximum of $33.58 per hour of work addressing a records request. (This kicks in after the first hour, which is free.) That’s a rate set to inflation, and it’s scheduled to increase again in 2024. It means that even a minor request requiring a few hours of work can be prohibitively expensive for anyone on a budget, and the public has little insight into whether a records custodian really needs as much time as they say they do. Were the custodian motivated to discourage a request, they could claim that a project is twice as time-consuming — and thus twice as expensive — as it really is.
Governing
editorials & columns
"These are not people who necessarily seek out attention; rather, they feel compelled to report wrongdoing because they care for their communities."
The American Library Association says 37 percent of book challenges last year were in public libraries. Around the country, library governing bodies have been thrown out, censorship protection has been weakened or deleted, and books have been banned. From the time the first public libraries were established in the early 1700s, long before we were even a nation, they have been a cornerstone of our democracy, enhancing social mobility and freedom. So why are some parents attacking arguably one of the most democratizing of American public institutions? In a world where the internet, cable TV and streaming services leave nothing to the imagination, where the 6 o’clock TV news is Ground Zero for sexual-enhancement commercials, is it really worth suppressing the written word to ensure that no kid is ever exposed to a disturbing idea?
The Free Lance-Star
Government whistleblowers serve a vital function. They help to curb governmental abuses and ensure good stewardship of the people’s resources. These are not people who necessarily seek out attention; rather, they feel compelled to report wrongdoing because they care for their communities. There are tangible steps that could be taken to make whistleblowing more effective. The simplest would be to do more to educate those who work in government about whistleblowing. There are services available at the federal level through nonprofits such as the Project on Government Oversight, while organizations like the Government Accountability Project also protect state and local workers who report wrongdoing. More could be done to make sure that their resources reach those who need them. States could also replicate the best practices found in the strongest whistleblower-protection statutes. State laws, in PEER’s view, should provide a broad definition of whistleblowing (coverage), protect disclosures to various types of officials or organizations (usability), and provide mechanisms to rectify any sort of retaliation (remedies). According to PEER’s rankings, the District of Columbia leads the way on this issue, with a wide breadth of coverage, high usability and strong remedies.
Michael E. Bednarczuk, Governing
