VCOG annual conference

VCOG's annual conference is March 16 in Charlottesville and we already have a program shaping up and a registration page is up and running. Register today. Or, even better, consider being a donor/sponsor to the conference.

We will present our open government awards at the conference. Do you know someone who should be recognized? Nominate your citizen, press or government hero here.

AND, we will have a board dinner after the conference. Watch this space for how to purchase tickets.

Tipline tipping point

Shortly after his inauguration, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the creation of an email tipline for the public to write in with complaints about the teaching of so-called divisive concepts in Virginia's public schools. Unsurprisingly, the press soon asked for copies of any messages submitted to the tipline. The governor refused, saying the messages were exempt from disclosure under FOIA's working papers exemption. A group of news outlets sued, and in November the case was settled. The governor's office released a batch of 350 or so messages that had been forwarded to the Department of Education, meaning the ones the administration kept internally are still under wraps and still being withheld under the same exemption. Also in November, the governor's office confirmed that the tipline had been discontinued.

Deep thoughts

You can't just tell me to trust you, writes Megan Rhyne in an op-ed on Substack. Trust must be earned.

Frequent flyer tax?

An administration memo circulated to York County supervisors suggested revisiting the county's policy on how it charges for FOIA requests based on the conclusion that one person was making 87% of the FOIA requests, resulting in a lost "opportunity cost" of over $100,000. 

FOIA by the numbers

Fairfax County released its annual report of FOIA requests.They received 16,160 in FY 2021-22, up 25% from the previous year. Requests made for police records were up by 27%, half the requests came from out of state and $2,956 was the most expensive request paid for.
 

Eye roll of the month

In a town that was in the throes of hiring a new manager and attorney, the town clerk had this to say to a reporter who asked how many people had applied for each position and how many people were interviewed: "The information regarding the number of applicants who applied for the positions and the number of interviews performed for the positions are considered personnel."
 

Board fights

Members of public bodies across Virginia continued to squabble with each other and with citizens. It's not novel behavior, but it seems like there's a whole lot more of it these days. During a Spotsylvania County School Board meeting that lasted until nearly midnight, the chair told staff to cut off the microphoneof a board member who was trying to explain that she had business items to discuss. In Pittsylvania County, the brother of a board member wasescorted out of the meetingwhen he refused to end his comments almost as soon as he started. And in Staunton, city council members, who have frequently sparred publicly, got into it again, with one member yelling, "Goddam it, let me speak," and the mayor shutting the meeting down.

Open Government in the News

The attorney general's office estimated it would cost $20,000 to fill a FOIA request from the NAACP for records related to the Election Integrity Unit created earlier this fall. The NAACP paid the requested deposit, and the request was filled on Nov. 9 at a significantly lower, but still expensive cost of $9,515. Many records were turned over to the NAACP, some were withheld, and in several instances, the AG's office said that no records matching the request existed.

As part of litigation over regulation of so-called skill games, a Greensville County Circuit Court is also being asked to decide whether the General Assembly violated the "one object" rule by inserting rules regulating the industry into the state's budget without a public hearing. Sen. Bill Stanley, who is representing a skill-game company, argues the practice violates Virginia's constitution.

Parents of special needs students in Northern Virginia school districts turned to FOIA when they began suspecting that requests for better accommodations were being denied at high rates. During a related lawsuit over the denials, records they got through FOIA showed that just three out of 395 requests were granted in the Northern Virginia region and just 1.5% of appeals were granted statewide, compared to 35% in California and 15% in Maryland. 

A Roanoke County circuit court judge ordered the county to release the name of a police officer accused in a lawsuit of fatally shooting an unarmed man. The county turned over a transcript and video of an internal interview with the officer, but his name was redacted and his face blurred.

The Virginia State Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of five Prince William Board of Supervisors accused of violating the state's open meetings laws in the hours after riots that sprung up in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. The plaintiffs claim the supervisors violated FOIA when they attended a meeting of the county police department's Citizen Advisory Board to discuss responses to the unrest.

The manager of Portsmouth, who used to be the city's police chief and who was hired over the strident objects of three members of the city council, issued a letter saying that "incidents of continued insolent behavior, disparate treatment, apparent bias, and disparaging comments" by two of those dissenting council members and by citizens during public comment periods at city council meetings constituted a breach of her contract.

The school board in Norfolk adopted "special rules" for public comment that would split the comment period into two segments, one for agenda items and one for non-agenda items. The former would be streamed, the latter would take place after adjournment and would not be streamed. Board members who voted against the policy said they did not know  about it in advance. By the end of November, the board's chair announced that because of citizen feedback, the special rules would be adjusted to put them back on camera and before adjournment. 

In the annual Digital Cities Survey from the Center for Digital Government, the following Virginia cities garnered mention. In the Up to 75,000 population category: Williamsburg (3rd), Danville (5th). In the 75,000 to 124,999 population category: Lynchburg (4th), Roanoke (7th). In the 125,000 to 499,999 population category: Virginia Beach (2nd).

The Patrick County School Board met in closed session for six hoursNov. 8 without an explanation for what the meeting was about. Two days later, the board voted to dismiss a school employee, identified only by case number, and to recommend revocation of the employee's teaching license.

The Virginia Department of Education fussed at the Richmond School Board, saying recent 5-4 votes to reject some proposals by the district superintendent violated a 2017 memorandum of understanding between the district and the DOE. The DOE asserted that it was helpful for boards to move in the same direction and align with the administration, prompting the board chair to explain that a 5-4 vote cannot be assumed to be a sign of either good or bad governance.

Administrators at the New College Institute released records through FOIA that showed how, since 2017, they have been asking their nonprofit foundation for details on how it decides how to spend money it raises on behalf of the institution but that they have been unable to get specific answers. According to its publicly available IRS 990 form, the New College Foundation says it has $12.2 million in assets; the filing indicates the foundation spends twice as much on its director's salary than it does on scholarships for students in the Martinsville area.

Using publicly available court records, the Eviction Lab at VCU's Wilder School shows which companies in Virginia have evicted the most residents over the past five years.

Though the William & Mary provost asked a sociology professor to prepare a report on the salary disparities among college faculty, staff and contracted employees based on race, gender and ethnicity, the administration did not acknowledge the report when asked about it the same month it had been delivered to them in 2021. The report -- which included a recommendation to share the findings with employees -- was eventually obtained by the student newspaper this fall.

The Virginia Beach Commonwealth's attorney said his office had to review over 21,000 hours of body camera footage last year. He's making the case for more money to hire more officers to cover the workload, claiming that without it, he won't be able to prosecute misdemeanors.

A U.S. district court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against a Prince William County supervisor for temporarily hiding a comment the plaintiff left on the supervisor's official Facebook page. The judge, however, left the door open for the plaintiff to refile his complaint within two weeks.

Citizens with an opinion on whether the Warrenton Planning Commission should grant a permit allowing Amazon Web Services to build a data center in town lined up an hour in advance of the Nov. 15 meeting. The commission prioritized the 60 or so speakers by whether or not they were town residents. The audience ignored a request not to applaud or make outbursts during other people's comments. 

Yet another economic development project, yet another code name. This one, called "Project Tropical" by Henrico County, appears to be for two data centers connected Meta, the parent company of Facebook, according to reporting by Richmond BizSense.

In a discussion over how to investigate allegations about the mistreatment of high school students in Clarke County schools, one school board member objected to asking the board's legal counsel to do it. "They're hired to protect us from litigation," she said. "This is not about protecting us. This is about transparency for the community."