VCOG board of directors meeting, Dec. 6, 2022

VCOG Board of Directors meeting
December 6, 2022
Via Zoom

In attendance: Jeff South (President), Joe Fuentes (Treasurer), Stephen Hayes (Secretary), Brian Colligan, Betsy Edwards, Maria Everett, Craig Fifer, Chris Gatewood, Bob Gibson, Joshua Heslinga, Wat Hopkins, Pat O’Bannon, Bruce Potter, Jay Speer. Also in attendance: Megan Rhyne (executive director).

The meeting convened at roughly 10:05 a.m.

After introductions, South moved to accept the minutes of the July 22, 2022, meeting; Hayes seconded; the vote was unanimous.

Rhyne shared various budget files on her screen. In the file showing monthly income and expenses, Rhyne noted that we have taken in $38,233 so far this year, which averages out to nearly $7,650 each month, and which includes our endowment drawdowns. Rhyne noted that we’ve spent $31,597, which averages out to $6,319 per month. Most of that expense comes from Rhyne’s salary and expenses. Overall, we are running ahead by over $6,600. Based on past trends, Rhyne says she is confident we will meet our budget targets in six months. 

Potter expressed some apprehension about including endowment revenue in the income totals. 

Rhyne noted that sustaining pledges continue to grow.  We are currently receiving $4,240 in sustaining gifts, either through media subscriptions or from other recurring payments 

Rhyne presented the endowment-by-month file, noting that like most people, VCOG’s endowment  took a massive hit this calendar year. On the other hand, the total value has grown by 1.5%, even with taking out $18,000 in drawdowns.

Rhyne directed members to look over the financial statement and the IRS 990 form.

Rhyne next presented her executive director’s report. Rhyne reported that she has averaged more hours in the first 5 months of the NFOIC MOU than was anticipated, but that much of that time was spent on the time-intensive summit planning. Since the completion of that event, her hours have dropped much more in the range of the anticipated 10-15 hours/month.

Rhyne gave a legislative update, reporting that Sen. Scott Surovell will be carrying a bill for us on making sure names on purchase card (credit card) statements are not redacted, and Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker will carry a bill on creating a record of the amount paid to settle litigation that must be made available upon request.

Rhyne noted that the FOIA Council is supposed to vote on whether to recommend a bill that would allow local governments to keep confidential the names of people making various nuisance complaints. Potter, a member of the council, has opposed it and Rhyne has provided comment in opposition.

Potter discussed the work of a group of stakeholders trying to streamline the public notice bills. The  two main points of the legislation that will be proposed are to (1) make notice periods more consistent, and (2) simplify the descriptions that must go into newspaper ads.

Rhyne confirmed that she will again use BillTrack 50 to track bills and to automatically update the status of bills in our online chart, which saves a lot of time. She also explained that the Legislative Committee met and decided not to use the system’s legislative scorecard function for any kind of public-facing ranking system.

Rhyne announced that the annual conference has been scheduled for March 16 at the Brick Cellar in Charlottesville. That’s also where we will have the board dinner afterwards, catered by a restaurant called The Local. Expenses are much higher since we last planned a dinner, making the budgeted amount for this event unrealistic.

Rhyne reported that she will be interviewing candidates for the legislative internship later this month.

Rhyne and South discussed a joint project with SPJ to do a survey of state agency websites to evaluate compliance with FOIA. The goal is to get a report out by Sunshine Week. And Jeff can talk about plans to prepare a local survey kit of sorts. Edwards cautioned that reporters will be overwhelmed and may not be receptive to conducting their own research. She suggested looking for an intern from VCU to survey localities.

Rhyne highlighted a letter she wrote to York County in response to an internal memo suggesting that it would charge more for records to people who make multiple requests. She will meet with the York County manager to discuss the memo and FOIA policy in January.

There was a general discussion about FOIA fees.

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m.