Monday
February 13, 2023
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state & local news stories
VCOG’s annual legislative chart of FOIA and access-related bills
Chesapeake’s city attorney sternly warned City Council members in November the city likely violated the law by not turning over documents sought through a public records request, and urged members to provide responsive documents in order to mitigate their legal liability. The warning and advice was laid out in a legal opinion and memo authored by former City Attorney Jacob P. Stroman, who resigned last month. His two memos, obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, appear to have played at least some role in his departure — as three governmental sources say his legal interpretations have frustrated the mayor over the years. The legal opinion has to do with a Freedom of Information Act request from Planning Commission member Levin Turner, who sought two documents circulated during an Oct. 25 closed session to discuss his appointment. Stroman sent a seven-page legal opinion regarding Turner’s request to council members Nov. 18 and a follow-up memo Nov. 30. In the correspondence, Stroman said the city’s responses had been inaccurate and cautioned members that legal action could result if the documents aren’t provided. “It is difficult to overstate the vulnerability of both the city and the council member in light of the prior, inaccurate FOIA responses,” Stroman said. “In the event that Mr. Turner files a lawsuit alleging FOIA violations against the city, it is likely that the city would lose the lawsuit, and may be ordered to pay Mr. Turner’s attorney’s fees.”
The Virginian-Pilot
Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for communications between county supervisors and Biberaj’s current and former political opponents, Nicole Wittman and Elizabeth Lancaster. Wittman ran against Biberaj in 2019 and Lancaster is running against Biberaj this year in the June Democratic primary. Biberaj submitted the FOIA requests with her official government email and her official government title. As a result, some elected officials are asking if Biberaj is misusing her office and government funds for political and personal reasons.
WJLA
Charlottesville City Council plans to hold a special meeting on Monday during which it plans to interview executive search firms to assist with the selection of a new city manager in closed session. The city has been without a permanent city manager since October 2021 when Chip Boyles resigned. City Council plans to interview interested firms in a closed meeting on Monday.
The Daily Progress
Note: This is the agenda and it does not cite the exemption it will use (it doesn’t have to be cited in the agenda, but sometimes public bodies will at least give a head’s up). Award of a public contract, maybe?
The Clarke County School Board recently implemented a code of conduct without support from one of its members. Russell District board member Andrew MacDonald called the code “a meaningless document” that amounts to “bureaucratic pablum.” Adopted in a 4-1 vote, with MacDonald dissenting, the code updates one the board originally adopted in 2014 and revised in 2016. The code is based on recommendations. “I’m not a real fan of having nongovernmental outside entities make recommendations and then (expect that) I hold myself to them,” he said. “It could be perceived as aligning ourselves with an organization that could have an agenda,” MacDonald added.
The Winchester Star
The Afro American Historical Association of Fauquier County recently announced a $50,000 state grant to be used to conduct phase II of, “Know Their Names.” The project started over two years ago when the local historical association began identifying, by name, the enslaved population of Fauquier County, dating from 1759-1865. The association has abstracted information from various county records, Bible records, diaries, newspaper accounts and journals, according to a release. The information is now housed in over 20 databases via Air Table with an approximate 59,000 entries. Phase II of the project will merge five databases into one large document where people may search for an ancestor, whether free or enslaved. The task will require the expertise of skilled IT technicians, funded with the grant. Virginia Museum of History and Culture’s Commonwealth History Fund provided the support in partnership with Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
Culpeper Star-Exponent
The Loudoun Board of Supervisors is urging the release of an investigative report into repeated sexual assaults in the schools which the School Board has opted to keep secret. “There is not only intense public interest, but intense interest on the Board of Supervisors as to just how these incidents were able to occur, how Loudoun County Public Schools administration has addressed the cracks in the system, and how the public can have confidence that systems have been changed to a degree that incidents like this will be prevented in the future,” County Chair Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large) and Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Koran T. Saines (D-Sterling) wrote in the first of two letters. “Until the public has access to the findings of your internal report, it will be difficult to restore confidence in LCPS and turn the page from this unconscionable episode. Supervisors have repeatedly called on the School Board to release the results of the Blankingship & Keith investigation, including in a letter signed by Randall and Saines (D-Sterling), and a follow-up letter signed by every supervisor except Juli E. Briskman (D-Algonkian).
Loudoun Now
stories of national interest
Earlier this month, a Massachusetts lawmaker filed a bill to regulate generative artificial intelligence models. However, unlike prior legislation, this particular bill was partially drafted by ChatGPT, an AI chatbot auto-generative system created by OpenAI. ChatGPT uses a deep learning technique to sift through terabytes of data to create answers to prompts or questions, according to context.news. Essentially, a user can type a question into ChatGPT’s database and receive a detailed response that has been vetted through copious amounts of online data. In the novel case of the Massachusetts legislation, SD 1827, the AI chatbot helped draft more than half of the bill, according to Sen. Barry Finegold. However, it had some limitations. “ChatGPT got us 70 percent of what we needed when we wanted to draft this bill, but it didn’t get us all the way,” Finegold said, adding that it was not unlike the limitations facing autonomous vehicles in the snow.
Governing