A Richmond judge on Wednesday sharply questioned how the city of Richmond and its lawyers could have looked at a mostly blank cell phone without figuring out something had happened to the text messages that should have been on it. The phone in question belonged to former city spokeswoman Petula Burks, who is being sued by former city FOIA officer Connie Clay. In the long-running and highly contentious lawsuit, Clay claims she was wrongfully fired for insisting the city follow Virginia’s transparency laws and respond properly to requests for public records. … Some of Wednesday’s discussion centered on an article The Richmonder published in December about a city IT document that indicated the missing phone had been found and was being kept “in a secure location with airport security” until officials could get it back. The city’s lawyers indicated they just learned about that document too, and have since undertaken efforts to try to find the phone. The existence of the IT report, the judge said, meant the city knew the phone had gone missing long before its representatives casually revealed that fact in court. … Though the city’s lawyers claimed they were unaware of the IT report until The Richmonder brought it to light through a FOIA request, the judge said it was a case of the city “finding it in their own stuff.”

During committee reports for the [Town of Mineral’s] Feb. 9 [town council] meeting, discussion shifted toward public transparency regarding committee meetings. Council member Michelle Covert is a member of the streets committee; historically, she said that the street committee has been included with the water and sewer committee since the two are closely related. “…I keep trying to find the water committee meetings to attend; it’s just these secret, hidden meetings and it’s not working out very well,” Covert said. “We need information about what’s going on with the streets and the only way I can get that is by attending water committee meetings. That’s not being shared with the public or with me.” … “We have seen many times in many places around the state, public bodies create these two member committees because they think, ‘well, we’re not three members so we’re not subject to FOIA.’ That’s wrong,” Megan Rhyne said. “Subcommittees are subject to FOIA and if your quorum is two people — when those two people talk, that’s a meeting.”

The city of Danville’s information technology department has launched an updated version of its parcel viewer application, offering a more intuitive, user-friendly experience. The redesigned interface makes it easier than ever to access and explore property information. … “A lot of the functionality will feel familiar, but the experience is much smoother,” said Scott Longerbeam, GIS coordinator for the information technology department. “The unified toolbar brings everything into one place, and the layout is cleaner and easier to read, which makes finding parcel information quicker and more intuitive.”

Tuesday night, another motion was on the floor that would accelerate efforts to end Pound’s status as an incorporated town. … It came down to Lyndon Powers’ swing vote. He said no. The audience gasped. That 3-2 vote defeated a proposed resolution spelling out the steps toward eliminating Pound’s town charter. Its defeat means disincorporation efforts might be frozen until January 2027 — emphasis on “might.” Powers — who joined a 3-2 vote in January to begin disincorporation talks with Wise County — said he counted seven audience members who’d spoken earlier Tuesday night in favor of preserving the town. Between the January vote and Tuesday’s meeting, six other people had urged him to vote against disincorporating the town, he said. Powers said residents are not being fully informed of what they would lose if Pound ceases to be a town. Those who spoke to him were told only that they would no longer have to pay town taxes, he said.

The Warren County Board of Supervisors reallocated funding to Samuels Public Library on Tuesday night after repealing an ordinance and dissolving a year-old county library board. Following a public hearing, Chairwoman Cheryl Cullers, Vice Chair Tony Carter and Supervisor Hugh Henry voted to repeal Chapter 7, an ordinance passed by the previous board in December 2024 to create the Warren County Library Board (WCLB) to oversee library services in the county. Supervisor John Stanmeyer abstained from the vote and Supervisor Richard Jamieson voted against it. The action dissolved the WCLB, a five-member board appointed in early 2025 that has not held public meetings for several months.

Martinsville Circuit Court Judge G. Carter Greer on Wednesday suspended Mayor LC Jones from the Martinsville City Council and ordered him to appear in court Feb. 26 to show cause why he should not be removed from office. In a show-cause order filed in Martinsville Circuit Court, Greer wrote that a petition seeking Jones’ removal was filed Jan. 13, that the general registrar certified Jan. 22 that the petition contained more than the required number of valid signatures, and that on Feb. 17, Commonwealth’s Attorney Patrick Flinn notified the court he had determined there are valid grounds to remove Jones.

Some Staunton River District residents have launched a petition asking for Timothy Dudley, the Staunton River District member on the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, to be removed from the board in the wake of Dudley’s charge of shoplifting from a business in Altavista. … Those behind the petition cited what they called Dudley’s “violation of the Board’s signed Code of Ethics, including Item 2 “Comply with the Law,” Item 3 “Conduct of Members,” Item 18 “Compliance and Enforcement.” This is also due to his failure to attend Board meetings on December 16, 2025 and January 6, 2026.” According to Robert Tucker, board chair and Banister District supervisor, the board of supervisors as a body cannot force the removal of one of its members; board leadership can ultimately only issue a strong warning, or suggest that a member resign. However, Tucker said constituents of the member in question can petition for their representative’s removal. Some of Dudley’s constituents did just that, obtaining the necessary form from the general registrar’s office.

Oregon legislators are considering making changes to a law that bars city councils and other government bodies from secretly hashing out decisions via private text messages, chats or other means, after elected officials complained the law was too confusing and a city lobbying group bashed state trainings on the rules. At issue is a section of state law that prohibits city councilors or other officials from effectively bypassing Oregon’s open government mandate through so-called “serial communications,” by texting, calling or otherwise talking to each other outside of public meetings. That ban was codified in a 2023 law. However, problems arose when the Oregon Government Ethics Commission began training public officials on the new law, according to the League of Oregon Cities, which represents the interests of city governments.