At the beginning of March, Jim Taylor resigned from his post as Westmoreland County Administrator in the wake of a closed‑session performance review. Before the closed session started, in a split‑decision vote, the Board of Supervisors elected to lay out for the public what led to the meeting as part of a commitment to transparency. The County had, over the course of the last eight months, gone delinquent on not one, not two, but eight loans from Rural Development, which necessitated appropriating over $1.4 million to cover all the loans.

Two Purcellville town staff members have filed a joint lawsuit against Purcellville Vice Mayor Carl “Ben” Nett and the town, according to a complaint filed March 25 in Loudoun County Circuit Court. Assistant Town Manager Diana Hays and Director of Human Resources Ladonna Snellbaker are jointly suing Nett for false and defamatory statements published by Nett, both in his individual capacity and in his role as vice mayor. The town’s interim police chief, Sara Lombraña, also filed a defamation lawsuit on Jan. 28. The 20-page complaint, filed by attorneys Thomas Plofchan, Jr. and Jacqueline Kramer of the Westlake Legal Group, outlines alleged instances where Nett made comments that were “harassing and demeaning” and viewed as personal attacks.

Questions over whether the city of Clemson’s Freedom of Information Act policy aligns with state law have emerged during a dispute over a proposed settlement in the ongoing lawsuit over Clemson City Council’s approval of Hub Clemson. On March 16, council voted 6-1 to approve its settlement proposal, putting it in the hands of plaintiffs Eleanor O’Meara Hare and Holly Hewitt Ulbrich for acceptance. However, due to differences in FOIA policy changes, the plaintiffs rejected the city’s offer. A section requested in the plaintiffs’ proposal — but excluded in the city’s — involves updating a paragraph in the city’s FOIA policy which outlines a fee schedule for fulfilling FOIA requests. The proposal would cap costs and fees at the prorated hourly salary of the lowest paid, qualified employee or attorney for search and retrieval, while also permitting charges for converting paper records to electronic format. Jay Bender, an attorney from the South Carolina Press Association, explained why the section may have been removed and how it could go against state law. “The one thing that jumped out at me in the plaintiffs’ proposal, which I thought was a little strange and contrary to state law, seemed to suggest that it would be acceptable for the town to charge for an attorney to review a document to see if it were to be disclosed,” Bender said. “The law prohibits that.”

Georgia State Patrol used its system of Flock automated license plate reader (ALPR) surveillance cameras to issue a ticket to a motorcyclist who was allegedly looking at his cell phone while riding, according to a copy of the citation obtained by 404 Media. The incident is notable because Flock cameras are not designed for traffic enforcement or minor code violations, and many jurisdictions explicitly tell constituents that the cameras will not be used for traffic enforcement. The incident happened December 26 in Coffee County, Georgia. The ticket lists the offense as “Holding/supporting wireless telecommunications device,” and includes the note “CAPTURED ON FLOCK CAMERA 31 MM 1 HOLDING PHONE IN LEFT HAND.”