Transparency News, 1/5/2023

Thursday
January 5, 2023

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state & local news stories

"The public is not going to be sitting up here with us until 12:30 and 1 o'clock. By that time, the public has left, and they mad."

Asked about the fate of the small, Wise County Va. town of Pound — which could have its charter repealed late this year due to a bill sponsored by Del. Terry Kilgore last year — he said Pound leaders have taken steps to forestall that end. The legislation put Pound on notice to begin holding meetings, elect a mayor, hold elections and adopt a budget, Kilgore said. The legislature also wanted the town to meet with the Virginia Municipal League for good counsel as it sought to right its ship after years of mismanagement. "I plan on reinstituting their charter as I told them that that I would and hopefully we'll get that done during the General Assembly and the Town of Pound can remain intact and hopefully, move forward."
WJHL

Audit records reviewed by the Richmond Times-Dispatch show that the troubled Richmond Jail, which has weathered a string of assaults, inmate deaths, and concerns about illicit contraband, received a perfect score in its most recent audit by state inspectors. “Congratulations to you and your staff on scoring 100% on the Compliance Audit and thank you for your cooperation,” wrote Tawana Ferguson, the inspector who performed the audit. At the time of the audit, the jail was already understaffed by 84 employees, a deficit that has since grown to more than 160, according to statements given by Sheriff Antionette Irving in July 2022. Ferguson, the auditor who gave the jail perfect marks, is a member of the same sorority as Sheriff Antionette Irving, who was elected to run the jail in 2018. The sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, is a national organization with a public service focus. The group has an active alumnae chapter in Henrico County. Ferguson, the auditor who gave the jail perfect marks, is a member of the same sorority as Sheriff Antionette Irving, who was elected to run the jail in 2018. The sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, is a national organization with a public service focus. The group has an active alumnae chapter in Henrico County.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

During the year’s first business meeting of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, the board voted to approve a raise for itself. But that raise won’t take effect until the beginning of the next term, after this year’s elections. The measure for the raise passed 8-0-1, with Supervisor Caleb Kershner, R-Catoctin, abstaining from the vote. With his abstention, Kershner was the only member of the board to not vote “yes.” Kershner said he believes he is already fairly compensated for the position. “I’m going to abstain from this vote today, just simply because I’m a little uncomfortable as, for myself personally, I feel I’m amply paid for this, but I also understand that that everybody has a little bit different perspective,” he said. Before the vote, Kershner asked County Administrator Tim Hemstreet if a supervisor would be able to donate portions of their salary to staff members.
Loudoun Times-Mirror

Arlington County Board members have approved a modification to public-hearing rules that would impact, and perhaps streamline, meetings when lots of people want to have their say. The proposal, embedded in the board’s 2023 meeting procedures slated for adoption at the Jan. 3 organizational meeting, would cut the time available to speakers when a large line of speakers – in person and/or “virtually” – has developed. Currently, individuals speaking on public-hearing items can testify for either two or three minutes. (To incentive brevity, all two-minute speakers get to have their say before the three-minute speakers begin.) Those representing organizations or homeowners’ associations can speak for up to five minutes. Under the proposed changes, if there are more than 75 speakers in the queue for an item, individuals would be limited to two minutes and those representing groups to three minutes.
Sun Gazette

With county board meetings often lasting into the early hours of the morning, supervisors on Jan. 3 made tweaks to their rules of order to try to get the public’s business done earlier in the evening. Among those changes, for the first time this year Board of Supervisors meetings will have a midnight cutoff. When midnight comes, the new rules of order will require supervisors to either end the meeting after wrapping up their current agenda item, or vote by a two-thirds supermajority to continue the meeting. “My only consternation is that if we don't do something, it goes to the next meeting and that makes that meeting longer, or the next meeting and that makes that meeting longer,” Chair Phyllis Randall said. “So at some point you’ve got to do it anyway.” But the majority of supervisors, including Randall, supported the new rule. “The public is not going to be sitting up here with us until 12:30 and 1 o'clock. By that time, the public has left, and they mad,” she said.
LoudounNow
 

editorials & columns

"Politicians love to say that FOIA was written for 'the press.' Well, you can safely count that allegation among the great pieces of political misinformation concocted during the past half century, for if ever there was a law written for citizens, it’s FOIA, and that’s a provable statement."

Our right as citizens to observe the workings of government at all levels is a vital part of democracy. The legal right to know what government is doing, however, is a relatively new concept and is not enshrined in the U.S. or most state constitutions. In truth, governmental secrecy at all levels has historically been more normal than not. While the Virginia Freedom of Information Act is now 55 years old, it hasn’t grown stale. Quite the contrary. FOIA undergoes change just about annually, sometimes increasing governmental transparency, but all too often limiting it. A rough count would indicate that the document, which now is 71 pages long, has been amended approximately 800 times, the majority of those amendments during the past two decades. In all fairness, when a law is amended, the language of several other sections is often affected, and those must be tweaked as well to match the underlying change, so there have been fewer changes of policy than the raw number would imply. Still, substantive changes to FOIA would number in the hundreds, and there will certainly be more in this, its 55th year. Politicians love to say that FOIA was written for “the press” or, in the favored pejorative among today’s politicos, “the media.” Well, you can safely count that allegation among the great pieces of political misinformation concocted during the past half century, for if ever there was a law written for citizens, it’s FOIA, and that’s a provable statement.
John Edwards, The Smithfield Times