Maybe it was the excessive heat of mid-July that scrambled people's brains, but it seemed that the humidity was matched percentage point for percentage point by the stupi...um...lucidity. From warring factions on boards, to unheard-of interpretations of FOIA, to tart replies that there was no obligation to provide any further explanation. Here's hoping cooler temperatures and cooler heads will prevail.

Meanwhile, VCOG posted the full text of FOIA with recent changes (compare it to the original version of the act for a real eye-opener), beseeched the FOIA Council for a study and made tentative plans for our 2024 conference.

The council issued a formal opinion in July, interpreting FOIA's interplay with a statute exempting certain meetings with the Commission on Local Government.

The FOIA Council held its first meeting since December 2022 on July 26. Its first order of business was to elect newly appointed legislative member Del. Mike Cherry of Colonial Heights to the role of chair. He replaces Sen. Mamie Locke of Hampton. Though there has traditionally been a vice chair, that position was not filled.

The council created three subcommittees to study three different issues. A records subcommittee will review a bill Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker of Alexandria carried in 2023 on behalf of VCOG that is aimed at making available records of financial amounts paid to settle claims made against a public body. A meetings subcommittee will study the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling in Gloss v. Wheeler, which dealt with the definition of "public business" within the context of what constitutes a public meeting. And a third committee will look into whether adjustments need to be made to the rules on remote participation in meetings when it comes to disabled individuals, especially when those individuals are serving on boards with several other disabled members who are unable to attend in-person meetings.

The council declined VCOG's invitation to have the FOIA Council's director issue guidance on the proper interpretation of "personnel information" in light of the Supreme Court's ruling in Hawkins v. Town of South Hill, or to have the records subcommittee study it. The council opted to wait to see how the courts apply the ruling.

A Chesterfield judge ruled July 21 that the county police department could redact the names of 521 of its police officers from publicly accessible payroll records because the officers could one day move into undercover positions.

Petersburg said it would cost $4,256 for 107 applications and materials submitted for grants from American Rescue Plan Act funds. The city needed to review, redact and "double-check" the records before release.

After years of being behind closed doors, the archival collection of the Danville Historical Society is open to the public at a physical location. The collection used to reside only in boxes stored at a local church.

The Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights faulted several aspects of Virginia law that inhibit oversight of law enforcement. One of the committee's seven findings included one that cites a "lack of standardization, transparency, and accountability," that leads to "significant differences in policing culture and practices across jurisdictions."

The Pittsylvania County Electoral Board struggled to maintain decorum as it considered the fate of its longtime registrar. Members clashed over whether to hold a meeting on a holiday (July 3), whether there would be a public comment period, and why an email seeking applicants for the general registrar position was sent out while the board was in closed session -- and before there was a public vote to replace the current registrar.

During a discussion about a new requirement in FOIA for public bodies to post their fee policies online, a King George County supervisor made the case for not charging citizens at all. A month later, the board's attorney said she had advised the supervisors against that notion. She refused to say what that advice was, saying, "I don’t feel that I can share the substance of those edits with the general public other than to say that I have significant legal reservations with that."

The mayor of Petersburg angrily criticized a city council member for not voting for issuing bonds to build a proposed courthouse, then announced, "I want a motion from this council on personnel issues. We need to have a talk in closed session.” The council obliged, but without identifying the purpose, subject matter or code section allowing a closed-door discussion, as FOIA requires.

In mid-July, a judge ordered most of the claims related to the disposition of the controversial statue of Robert E. Lee dismissed, but the judge let a FOIA open-meetings claim against Charlottesville remain. However, by the end of the month, according to reporting by The Daily Progress, a motion to "nonsuit" the remaining claim was being circulated among the plaintiffs' attorneys.

The Town of Hamilton, in Loudoun County, voted to discontinue its contract to livestream town council meetings when the provider, Granicus, indicated its price would rise from $745 per month to $797.15 per month.

After years of being an outlier among the Hampton Roads area's seven largest cities, Newport News finally approved the live-streaming of its work sessions, fulfilling a promise made by the mayor when he ran for election. Opposition to live-streaming in the past insisted that it would inhibit conversation.

Public records obtained from the Virginia Board of Medicine revealed that three doctors providing care in Virginia's prison system have had their medical licenses either suspended or revoked for past misconduct.

A Mecklenburg County judge denied South Hill's motion to reconsider his decision ordering the release of certain records the town has insisted it can withhold under FOIA's personnel exemption. The judge issued the order after the Supreme Court ruled that the definition of "personnel information" was not as broad as the town said it was. Using the high court's guidance, the judge ruled that some records had to be released but others could be withheld. It is not known whether the town will appeal.

The Richmond Police Department provided a bare-boned incident report related to an assault and subsequent arrest at Chippenham Hospital of a man who was later shot to death by Chesterfield police. The department completely redacted the more detailed officer narrative, though, saying its release would be an "unwarranted invasion of privacy." When asked whose privacy was being protected, a representative from the RPD's Office of Legal Affairs told WTVR, "It is my opinion that the Department is under no further obligation to provide you with any additional information."

Following weeks of turmoil over who the Hopewell City Council would appoint to the city manager's position and be tasked with getting the city's finances in order, a divided council eventually hired its former IT manager for the job, but not before going into closed session, then emerging to vote against allowing public comment on the matter.

The Portsmouth City Council voted to change its rules of order to require a majority vote before a member could be ejected from a meeting. The move came after the mayor kicked a member out of several meetings, presumably for recording the meetings from behind the dais.

The Virginia Beach School Board elected not to meet in closed session to discuss the Youngkin administration's model policies on transgender students.

A divided Lynchburg City Council made several changes to its rules of procedure, following several contentious meetings that split the council's Republican-leaning members. The changes include prohibiting insults aimed at one another and not allowing debate between members during roll call. In addition, emails sent to the clerk and council members about items in a public hearing must be read during that public hearing.

A Gloucester County School Board meeting was put on lockdown after five men who entered the meeting together but who then dispersed around the room, were found to be carrying firearms. One of the men, who was also carrying a knife, spoke during the public comment period to assert that his car had been vandalized during the last school board meeting. Law enforcement checked security video from the meeting, which they said did not show any interference with the man's vehicle.

Months after the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that a Newport News judge wrongly allowed a hearing to revoke the bond of a police officer accused of murder to be closed to the public and press, the city is now arguing before the same judge that records referenced in that hearing should not be made public. The Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot, who successfully challenged the closed hearing, say the documents are part of the public record and should not be kept under seal. The city insists that without confidentiality, "the officers who report misconduct could be ostracized, harassed and left alone in crisis situations by other officers, weakening the police force as a whole.”

The Augusta County Board of Supervisors spent much of July arguing over the recordings one of its members made of closed sessions. Though it wasn't on the agenda, the board voted at its July 17 meeting to censure the member, and on July 31 said it would have a meeting to "request certain public records," presumably the recordings. Meanwhile, at its July 26 meeting, a former supervisor was escorted out of the meeting by three deputies when he refused to leave the lectern after his allotted speaking time was up.

Virginia's FOIA turned 55 this year. Without being too exact about my own age, it's fair to say that we've grown up together. And just as I have expanded from a tiny baby to a full-grown adult and on into the middle-age spread, so too has VFOIA added pounds, wrinkles and complications. Click the image to see the slim and trim statute approved in April 1968. Then click here for the bloated and excruciatingly verbose version of FOIA that went into effect July 1, 2023.

We both look worse for the wear, but hey, it's better than the alternative.

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Williamsburg VA  23187
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