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All Access
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Are the Augusta County supervisors meeting again after their regular meetings? Several members of the public reached out to The News Leader to ask this question after sharing pictures of three supervisors and the county administrator having a meal at Rack ’em Smack ’em Ribs in Verona after a recent board of supervisors meeting. … Megan Rhyne is the executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. Rhyne explained that it is legal for three or more members of a public body to meet “so long as they are not talking about public business.” Board Chair Jeff Slaven echoed this in his statement to The News Leader. “It is not required that we post notice,” Slaven said. “The dinners are not considered meetings under Virginia law because ‘no part of the purpose of such gathering or attendance is the discussion or transaction of any public business, such gathering or attendance was not called or prearranged with any purpose of discussing or transacting any business of the public body, and no discussion or transaction of public business takes place among the members of the public body.’” … “The problem you’ve got here, is that it is really hard to believe that three members, plus the administrator, are meeting together immediately after a meeting and not talking about public business,” Rhyne said. “And even if they really are talking only about baseball or movies or the weather, the public is going to be suspicious and skeptical. It doesn’t look good, and it’s a perfectly reasonable response to assume that they are talking about the public business.”
News Leader
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Regional
Amazon continues to fall short of annual hiring targets at its second headquarters in Northern Virginia despite the tech giant’s promises of a massive economic infusion to the area in exchange for as much as $750 million in public subsidies for the ongoing development. The company failed to hit its annual job growth mark at its Crystal City campus in Arlington for the third year in a row, ending 2025 with 73 fewer new positions instead of adding the more than 1,600 new jobs projected for the year under its incentive agreement with the state of Virginia, according to an annual company progress report The Post obtained through an open records request. Amazon signed the agreement in 2018, saying it expected to add 25,000 new jobs to the area by 2038.
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Opinion
I am absolutely appalled at how Richmond city government officials waste taxpayer money. Consider the case of former Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) officer Connie Clay. … If the City Attorney’s Office couldn’t handle this simple matter without farming it out, perhaps we need a new city attorney and/or an administration that demonstrates fiscal responsibility. At the end of the day, the city will have paid out almost $1.4 million on a $250,000 lawsuit that could have been settled for even less. Who cares! What the heck, it’s only taxpayer money!
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Opinion from other states
A well-drafted records request is useful for everyone: it can help requesters get the records they want, in less time, and at a lower cost. It can also help custodians find records more easily, freeing them up to respond to others’ requests and carry out other duties. But the most important tip is to not be intimidated by the process: There are no magic words required to trigger your right to get records, and the law must be interpreted broadly in favor of access.
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