VCOG NEWSLETTER:
the month that was
june '24 |
June ushered in the excitement of school ending, the thrill of summer beginning, and the exhausting efforts of government officials fervently trying to keep their records under wraps. Picture this: UVA and the local Commonwealth's attorney doing everything they can to shield a report, the AG and the Town of Warrenton in a battle to keep the mayor's emails secret, Newport News wriggling out of a newspaper's FOIA request, and Petersburg biding its time against another media outlet's demands. In these lazy, hazy days of summer, just imagining all that effort is enough to make anyone want to take a nap! Today's newsletter gets an assist from VCOG's summer legal fellow, Amanda Millis. Thanks, Amanda! |
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Top officials fight to keep report away from the public |
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Albermarle County Commonwealth's Attorney, Jim Hingeley, went before two different judges in two different courts in an effort to stop the University of Virginia from releasing its independent report on the events leading up to and following the shooting deaths of three university football players. Not that UVA is eager to give up the report itself. The university is involved in a lawsuit with The Daily Progress over the report's release. In the criminal case, Judge Cheryl Higgins rejected a motion by Hingeley and the shooting suspect's attorney to block release of the report. Hingeley then showed up on the first day of the trial in The Daily Progress case and asked Judge Melvin Hughes to let him intervene in the case to argue why the report should not be released. Though Melvin said he was "caught a little unawares" by Hingeley's eleventh-hour request, he noted that Hingeley was the county's chief law enforcement officer and granted a 10-day reprieve to look into it further. Hingeley claims that the report is part of his criminal investigation into the murder. Once a copy of the report was delivered to UVA's police chief, "the reports become part of the criminal investigation," a potentially limitless application of the criminal investigative records exemption. On the stand during the trial, UVA's president said he was concerned about the impact of the report's release on the victims' families. However, the families said through their lawyer at the time they reached a $9 million settlement with the university in early June, "It is time for UVA and the Commonwealth to release the report." |
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The full text of FOIA, which includes the changes made in this most recent legislative session and a few that had delayed enactments from 2023, both of which go into effect today, is on VCOG's website. Of note: A lot of talk this session was about SB 324, which addresses FOIA fees. Those provisions are not included in the full text. That's because the final bill had what's called a "reenactment clause," meaning it won't go into effect unless the General Assembly passes it again next year. |
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When Virginia public bodies refuse to answer FOIA requests that come from other states, they may be on firm legal ground, but they do their fellow Americans a disservice. And it's pointless. |
| A government brief in the Court of Appeals argues police officers can be on the public payroll without being named, unlike every other public employee who FOIA says must be ID'ed. |
| While law enforcement agencies argue officers' names can be redacted from a salary database, Richmond alleges nepotism in the general registrar's office. What's one way to investigate nepotism? Salary records with names. |
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The Virginia Court of Appeals heard arguments June 26 on whether the Town of Warrenton has to release records related to the Amazon data center development proposal to a Fauquier County citizens group. The town was joined at the hearing by the Attorney General's Office. There are three main issues the three-judge panel will be deliberating. |
- Whether both the town can withhold records from both the town manager and the town mayor under the "working papers" exemption.
- When the trial judge asked for a sample of records being withheld, whether it was appropriate for the town to self-select a handful of items without any explanation for why.
- Whether the working papers exemption can be used to shield records when the person who can use the exemption (e.g., the town manager) is copied or blind-copied on a message.
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VCOG signed onto an amicus brief written by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press on the side of the citizens group. You can listen to the oral arguments by going to this page and searching for the word "Fauquier." |
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Help us help you! Your donation goes directly to VCOG's everyday expenses, including all of our advocacy work, our educational efforts and even this newsletter. |
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| open government in the news |
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As the Prince William County Board of Supervisors considered rezoning 41 acres to allow for the Mid-County Industrial Park development, campaign finance records revealed three key supervisors received more than $70,000 in campaign donations from developers involved in the effort. The project is controversial among residents, but one supervisor insisted the donations did not affect her vote to approve the development.
Documents obtained by Cardinal News revealed that Bedford County Public Schools has paid legal fees of nearly $30,000 to the Sands Anderson law firm to pursue a lawsuit against a parent for alleged abusive behavior towards staff. The district originally sued for $600,000 in damages from the man, then reduced that amount to $1. Several members of the school board said they were unaware the suit had been filed.
The University of Virginia denied VPM's FOIA request for police body camera footage of the campus arrests during the pro-Palenstine protests in May. The university said the records were part of an ongoing criminal investigation. After meeting for nearly five hours in early June, the Russell County Board of Supervisors tabled acting on a proposed landfill, saying they didn't have the necessary documentation at the meeting. By the 11th, documentation in hand, and amid chairs draped with "Overcome Evil with Good" t-shirts, the board voted unanimously to terminate negotiations with the landfill's developer.
The Charlottesville Police Civilian Oversight Board says that the police chief ordered the police department to cut off their access to department records, even though the ordinance creating the PCOB says it shall have "full access" to records. It was later revealed that the PCOB's attorney also began representing the city in April. The city insisted that there was no conflict for the same Sands Anderson attorney to represent both parties as they negotiate information-sharing issues.
Throughout June, two members of the Spotsylvania County School Board were embroiled in a criminal case where one accused the other of slamming a door against her shoulder and tripping her during a closed meeting of the board. The Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office released body camera footage of immediately after the incident, and on July 1, the charges against Nicole Cole were dismissed, with the judge stating, “Clearly and unfortunately, it appears there is a lot of hostility among School Board members. The case reminds me of things I tell couples. The only thing important is the child. This is kind of the same situation. The only thing that should be important to the School Board is the education of children.” The Chesterfield Police Department went back and forth on whether to release the video of the shooting death of a man having a mental health crisis and holding a hatchet, ultimately deciding not to release it. Court records are under no such subjectivity: unless sealed, records entered into evidence become part of the public record. That's how WTVR ended up with the video and posted it on the station's website. Text messages obtained by the Virginia Mercury through FOIA shed some light on the back and forth that went on before Petersburg announced its decision to pick the Cordish Companies to build a casino in the city. The Mercury, in turn, shed some light on the haphazard FOIA-response process, which included messages from some parties being omitted entirely, known records not being included, records that were outside the scope of the request, and an apparent attempt not to answer another request. Several VMI alumni are suing the school for civil rights violations related to the school's efforts to block them from obtaining the email addresses of other alums.
The Chesterfield County Police Department was in court defending its choice to respond to a payroll records request by presenting a list of its 542 officers, of which 521 were redacted. County Attorney Jeffrey Mincks argued that since almost anyone in the department could work undercover, their records are protected. The plaintiff's attorney, Andrew Bodoh, argued that the undercover protection only applies to officers actually involved in undercover operations and that the department’s response violated FOIA. The case is now with Circuit Court Judge Jayne Ann Pemberton for consideration.
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| A Charlotte County grand jury issued criminal indictments against supervisor Gary Walker on eight new felony charges of perjury tied to the accuracy of his annual statement of economic interests. Walker has already been indicted on three similar felony charges for his failure to submit a statement. Walker has said that accusations that he accepted gifts from a solar developer bordered on slander.
According to a letter obtained through FOIA by WAVY, the York County finance department prohibited any future business ties with the School Board Member Alliance, saying the organization told a school board member that the group would no longer support her if she did not vote to retain the school board chair in that position. The board removed the chair in May and replaced her with the member contacted by SBMA.
The City of Roanoke said there were no records of the departing city manager's severance agreement when asked by The Roanoke Rambler in early June. By the end of the month, a pay stub showed obtained by The Roanoke Times included a line item for$255,479 in severance pay, roughly equal to his annual salary.
Text messages between Newport News City Manager Alan Archer and the mayor show the city was taking precautions to avoid disclosure of information through FOIA about an incident involving the city's police and fire treatment of a gunshot victim.
A Richmond circuit court judge refused to throw out the FOIA lawsuit brought by two activists over the Richmond's failure to respond to a FOIA request within the statutorily mandated time limit. The city argued the request was not reasonably specific and was sent to outdated mailboxes instead of the city's FOIA officers. The city has indicated there are potentially 4 million responsive records.
Strasburg police released video footage of a police officer shooting four bullets into a confrontational woman, killing her. The police department would not release the officer's name, however.
The Virginia Permit Transparency website now allows the public to track over 100,000 regulatory permit applications for six state agencies. The change widely expanded a program developed by the Department of Environmental Quality after it found the program brought decreased permit processing time and greater transparency.
According to records obtained by The Virginian-Pilot through FOIA, Portsmouth as authorized nearly $900,000 in severance payouts to 11 top city employees who left the city since 2019. Two of those individuals left city government, got a severance payout, came back to work at the city, left again and got a second severance payout.
According to a column by the editor of the Augusta Free Press, his FOIA request to UVA for the contract extensions signed by the head basketball coach and head baseball coach. Despite publicly announcing the extensions, the editor's June 13 FOIA request for copies of the contracts was met with a response that the university needed a seven-working-day extension, on top of the ordinary five working days they automatically get.
The Smithfield Times used documents obtained through FOIA to reconstruct the timeline of the Smithfield mayor's trip to Florida, where he stayed at the home of the former chair of Smithfield Foods, and the chair's subsequent deposit of $6 million into the town's coffers. The Richmond Times-Dispatch obtained payroll and financial records that led to allegations of financial improprieties and nepotism by the General and Deputy Registrars at the Richmond Office of Elections. Both are under investigation by the Richmond Inspector General after the records revealed they spent nearly $150,000 collectively with their city-issued credit cards. Through a FOIA request, the Virginia Mercury also learned that an HR investigation confirmed the allegations of nepotism that General Registrar Keith Balmer had hired his brother, his brother’s friend, and awarded his wife a contract. The HR report recommended restructuring of the Office of Elections to promote anti-nepotism policies and regain transparency ahead of November. Loudoun County Public Schools revealed the names of the people serving on the "Blue Ribbon Panel on School Safety." The division initially denied a request for the names filed by The Loudoun Times-Mirror for "security reasons," which isn't a FOIA exemption. |
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VCOG will participate in a workgroup led by the Commissioner for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services on access to records of animal testing violations at public university research facilities. |
| VCOG will participate in a workgroup led by the Director of the FOIA Council on the cost of public records. There are 50 difference states with 50 different ways of assessing fees. What can Virginia do better? |
| VCOG's board of directors will convene an ad hoc committee on strategic planning to examine VCOG's mission and goals. They'll look, too, at how VCOG can improve its delivery of services to the public. |
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Order you 4x6 car magnet today! |
If you know, you know that 2.2-3700 is the first section of FOIA in Virginia Code. It's the policy statement where it reminds users -- government, citizens, commercial, press -- that the act exists to ensure ready access to records and free entry into meetings. Why? Because "at all times, the public is to be the beneficiary of any action taken at any level of government." |
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Virginia Coalition for Open Government |
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