FOIA Friday: Reducing SNAP error rates // Lack of state funding could raise Richmond water bills following 2025 water crisis // Potential racism and retaliation at Red Onion State Prison // Efforts to reduce FOIA costs makes return to General Assembly

Several city councilors had a tense exchange during a specially called Martinsville City Council meeting Thursday evening, which ended with the council directing its attorneys to give information from a forensic audit to Virginia State Police and a special prosecutor. The council also directed attorneys to identify information from the audit that it can release to the public. … The city will share with state police and special prosecutor Wes Nance the results of a forensic audit into the city’s spending during the tenure of then-City Manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides, who was fired last summer. Council members saw the audit for the first time Thursday in a closed session. … Following the closed session, council members voted 4-0, with Jones abstaining, to publicly release information contained within the forensic audit and a workplace investigation conducted by Sands Anderson in a manner that does not interfere with the special prosecutor’s investigation. The council directed Sands Anderson to provide it with information that is appropriate to release to the public.

At the outset, attorney Steve Durbin of Sands Anderson advised the council not to receive the forensic audit in open session, citing employee privacy, constitutional concerns and the risk of waiving legal privilege. “There are substantial legal concerns,” Durbin said, warning that discussing the report publicly could expose the city to legal liability and undermine ongoing investigations. … As the council prepared to adjourn into closed session, Council member Julian Mei appeared to suffer a medical episode and left the chamber through a rear exit. Police Chief Chad Rhoads was asked to stand outside the closed-session door amid concerns about safety and decorum. Council reconvened publicly at 7:43 p.m. Later that night, Mei posted a personal video to Facebook explaining that he experienced a panic attack related to longstanding diagnoses of obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety and panic disorder. He said the episode was triggered by escalating tension on the dais and that he briefly lost consciousness after hyperventilating.
(Note: If the report is requested through FOIA, exemptions must be cited to withhold or redact any portion. I’m not aware of exemptions for “constitutional concerns” or exposure to “legal liability.”)

The Purcellville mayor now appears to be seeking a Federal Department of Justice investigation, according to a town council agenda released Thursday night. Mayor Chris Bertaut has added an agenda item for the Jan. 13 meeting asking that the council “adopt a non-binding resolution calling for an investigation by the Federal Department of Justice.” No further information on the nature of the proposed investigation is included in the available meeting documents. The Times-Mirror has conatacted Bertaut and all council members for additional information or a reaction to the proposal. Council member Kevin Wright responded that the item was added to the agenda by the mayor at the last minute and without any advance discussion. Wright and Council members Erin Rayner and Caleb Stought were unaware of the details of the proposed resolution, he said.

Virginia’s leading government advisory organization offers this recommendation to town mayors and council members: Don’t conduct municipal business on personal emails. “We do recommend keeping separate emails for government business and personal use,” said Michelle Gowdy, executive director of the Virginia Municipal League. The reason has to do with ensuring the public’s right to know and the lawful maintenance of public records.

The Franklin City School Board voted on Dec. 18 to adjust its policy related to comments from the public made during board meetings, moving them toward the beginning of the meetings and significantly reducing the advance notice needed to sign up to speak. This action followed through on changes some of the board’s members had expressed interest in earlier this year. … “I also have a motion to amend the agenda to discuss having public comments in the beginning, not in the later part of our sessions, and also for the public to be able to sign up in the back to speak during Citizens Time without having to call in to the (board clerk), Ms. Beata (Wiecek),” Vice Chair Wydia Bailey said. Ward 1 Board Member Robert Holt said, “Let’s discuss that. That’s a policy change, and we would have to change the policy, which normally requires a reading and then a vote.” “OK, so we will do that in closed session, or we’ll do that now?” Bailey said.

The Charlottesville School Board is experimenting with later meeting times in order to encourage public participation and gauge interest in school division matters. Meetings typically held at 5 p.m. on the first Thursdays of each month — when many are just getting off work — will be pushed back to 6 p.m. for the first three meetings of 2025. The board will decide whether to make the change permanent after its March 5 meeting. “Hearing public feedback is foundational to the work we do,” Emily Dooley, chair of the school board, said in a statement announcing the change. “Our hope is that by shifting the meeting to a later time, we can encourage more community members to participate either in person or via Zoom.”

In December, the Richmond Times-Dispatch submitted records requests under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act for RPS’ teacher payroll and the Virginia Department of Education’s full list of state-licensed teachers. The documents showed RPS last year employed over 2,000 teachers: hundreds more than the number of licenses listed in the VDOE’s database. Part of that discrepancy is because not every teacher is required by state law to have a teacher’s license, VDOE officials explained. For example, temporary substitute teachers are not subject to licensure requirements, though they must meet other criteria. RPS currently employs 342 such teachers, records show. RPS spokesperson Alyssa Schwenk in December told The Times-Dispatch that 46 full-time RPS teachers currently lack their required licenses — down from more than 70 months ago, she said.