Wednesday
March 1, 2023
There was no newsletter yesterday, Feb. 28.
state & local news stories
VCOG’s annual conference
FOI Day — March 16
Charlottesville
Info and registration here
In the final days of the 2023 legislation session, the Virginia General Assembly reached bipartisan agreement on a bill requiring the Virginia Parole Board to conduct more of its work in the open. The agency, which has long been exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, would no longer have blanket immunity from transparency rules that apply to most government bodies. Legislation approved by both chambers Saturday would strike the Parole Board’s FOIA exemption from state law. The new proposal goes further by requiring the board to hold public hearings, publish more frequent and more detailed reports on its decisions and make more of its investigative information available to attorneys and inmates involved in cases being heard. A delayed enactment clause was added to the bill late in the session, meaning it won’t take effect until July 1, 2024.
Virginia Mercury
As the families of inmates and city leaders continue to raise concerns about Richmond’s jail, the state board that oversees operations is being tightlipped about its efforts. On Feb. 7, 8News filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for any communication between the state board and the jail within the past year. After invoking an extension, the board responded 17 days later, withholding the requested documents. Ryan McCord, the Executive Director of the Virginia Board and Regional Jails said approximately 50 records were being withheld in their entirety due to an administrative investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by employees of a law enforcement agency. This exemption falls under Virginia’s state code.
WRIC
The Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority reached a hush-hush deal on Tuesday with a party to one of its lawsuits. The EDA Board of Directors voted at its regular meeting to enter into a confidential agreement with another party. The agreement prohibits the EDA board members from disclosing the identity of the other party or the terms of the deal, including any monetary payments made. The resolution states that “the EDA desires to enter into the confidential settlement agreement with confidential parties providing for a confidential settlement payment to the EDA.” “Frankly, it’s not my cup of tea, but I get it and we’re in the business of recovering assets on behalf of (the) Warren County taxpayer,” Chairman Jeffrey Browne said. “This was the best way to do it and the judicial system encourages what we did.” Browne also would not disclose if the amount would go through Warren County or the EDA. Warren County oversees the EDA’s finances, debts and loans and operational costs.
Northern Virginia Daily
Spotsylvania County Public Schools’ new chief of staff will be “responsible for general staff administration and serving as the legislative liaison for the school division,” according to a job description provided last month by the division. The School Board approved the new position and appointed Jon Russell to fill it at its Feb. 13 meeting. The budgeted salary is $107,225. At the Feb. 13 meeting, some School Board members said they don’t believe the chief of staff position is necessary. “I consider the superintendent to be the chief of staff,” Dawn Shelley said. School Board member Nicole Cole said Taylor described the chief of staff position as “needed for him to effectively do his job.” “This position is duplicate of the job of superintendent,” she said.
The Free Lance-Star
editorials & columns
Missouri’s Sunshine Law is hardly rocket science: Meetings and records in which the public’s business is discussed are supposed to be open to the public. So what did St. Louis County Council Chair Shalonda Webb propose as the first substantive order of business during a special session called Saturday specifically to discuss the open-meetings law? To shut out the public and go into executive session, of course. The worst part of the story is that Webb didn’t apparently see the irony. Luckily, other members did. They refused to go into closed session, which prompted Webb to filibuster in protest, which prompted enough members to walk out that there was no longer a quorum. And that’s how a meeting to discuss the open-meetings law morphed into no meeting at all.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch