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"On leaving Monday night’s Board of Supervisors meeting a local resident was overheard to remark, 'This is the cheapest circus in town.' Said another: 'They should sell popcorn.'"
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Embattled Bristol City Councilman Doug Fleenor asked another council member to buy him out and he would leave council and the city, according to the amended notice of intent filed against him. The notice was released this afternoon after substitute Judge David Melesco ruled "the public absolutely has a right to know" why the Bristol Virginia City Council wants to remove Fleenor. "On Aug. 13,2018, you [Fleenor] had a phone call with Councilman Wingard and you stated on at least three occassions (paraphrasing) that if Councilman Wingard would pay you $325,000 for the corner lot and a couple other lots [Fleenor and his family own] that you would leave Bristol. You further stated that Wingard could buy you out and you would leave tomorrow and you can pick who goes on City Council. You stated, "I want the f... out of Bristol.'" The notice also details the number of frequency of Fleenor missing council and committee meetings.
Bristol Herald Courier
The Chesterfield School Board last week informed the Board of Supervisors that it is withdrawing from a joint committee formed two years ago as a venue for elected officials to publicly discuss budget, audit and operational topics with their respective staffs. Erbach said in an email last week that the committee “will ensure greater transparency by allowing the School Board and leadership team to focus solely on school division responsibilities.” Dorothy Jaeckle, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors, called the School Board’s decision “a shame” and “really disappointing.” “They’re sending a message that they don’t want transparency because that’s what comes out of those [audit and finance] meetings,” she added. “It seems like they’re afraid to be challenged with tough questions.”
Chesterfield Observer
More than 6,000 unread emails. Dozens of fraud hotline tips, some more than three years old, where investigations were started but never completed. Audits left unfinished for so long that they're out of date and may need to be redone. These are just some of the things that Norfolk’s interim auditor found when she was appointed in September following the firing of long-time city auditor John Sanderlin. In a report to the City Council late last month, interim auditor Tammie Dantzler described an office seemingly in a state of neglect. She detailed piles of unfinished work, low employee morale and an office lacking some of the fundamental things an auditor needs to perform its duties – including the very document that gives the office the authority to force city employees to hand over information.
The Virginian-Pilot
The Charlottesville Human Rights Commission is concerned with the nature of its job and its membership, but Charlottesville city councilors said Thursday that they aren’t sure why the issues aren’t being voiced. The majority of a joint meeting between the two panels on Thursday was spent with members of the commission and council expressing concerns with the work of the other. Commissioner Ann Smith was the only member of the nine sitting appointees to the 11-member panel to attend. She said two people are resigning because of personal issues and a third will be asked to step down after not attending any meetings. The third person teaches out of state on Thursdays, the day the commission meets, Smith said, and council needs to do a better job vetting candidates. Councilors said they couldn’t have done anything different because the applicant didn’t mention being unavailable for meetings. Interim City Manager Mike Murphy said more staff would be necessary for the commission to provide extensive feedback to council on agenda items or other issues before it.
The Daily Progress
At its second meeting the week on Thursday, the Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board presented a draft of its initial bylaws and clarified its mission statement. Since its first meeting in August, the board has struggled with determining its scope. As members learned about Freedom of Information Act and the limitations on the initial CRB, they expressed frustrations with a perceived inability to gather data. “We’ve gotten some conflicting messages from the city about the work we’re supposed to be doing,” said Board member Sarah Burke. The inability to collect data will make it hard to determine what powers the board should have, members said, because without data from the community it will be hard to know what their role should be.
The Daily Progress
On leaving Monday night’s Board of Supervisors meeting a local resident was overheard to remark, “This is the cheapest circus in town.” Said another: “They should sell popcorn.” Both the afternoon and evening sessions of the meeting were punctuated with arguments, raised voices, interruptions, accusations, and anger — certain board members and county citizens alike. Ironic, or maybe timely, as one of the agenda items in the evening session was a discussion about adopting a code of conduct for county officials. And a certain name seemed to dominate the proceedings — David Konick, a local lawyer recently called out for allegedly making lewd, insulting, and threatening remarks to several county citizens. He also represents Gid Brown Hollow resident Marian Bragg in two suits against the BOS alleging violations of the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), one of which will likely result in Rappahannock County taxpayers paying tens of thousands of dollars (see Bragg’s letter to the editor on page 4) in attorney fees.
Rappahannock News
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