According to the minutes of the recent Tangier Town Council meeting, officials addressed a $58,000 discrepancy in unpaid invoices related to a DEQ grant for the Tangier gas dock. So far, $13,000 has been repaid, with the remaining amount to be paid over six months. While DEQ considers reinstating the grant, it has initiated an investigation with the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and State Police. An audit, conducted by Connie Barnes and commissioned with help from the Virginia Municipal League (VML), revealed widespread financial mismanagement, including undocumented purchases, unexplained account transfers, and missing records. The 2024 audit has been sent to the Virginia Inspector General’s office for further investigation.

In a Monday email to Purcellville Councilmember Caleb Stought, Commonwealth’s Attorney Bob Anderson issued an advisory opinion on Purcellville Vice Mayor Ben Nett’s actions as a councilmember and recent Police Department officer. In the opinion, obtained by Loudoun Now through a Freedom of Information Act request, Anderson stated he believes Nett has violated the State and Local Government Conflict of Interest Act. Nett was employed as a Purcellville Police officer until April 4, when he was fired after being placed on administrative leave. In March, after Nett was placed on leave, Anderson sent an email to Interim Police Chief Sara Lombraña informing her that he had placed Nett on his office’s Brady List. That designation means his testimony may be considered unreliable and must be disclosed to the defense in a criminal case, according to legal precedent set in a Supreme Court case. Anderson said he had placed Nett on the Brady List after verifying that he had told the department on two separate occasions that he was unable to work because he was sick but attended events in in his capacity as a councilmember. He also attended a meeting in his vice mayor capacity while on duty as an officer, according to Anderson.

Prince William County’s Office of Elections has won a national award for its decision to publish all voting result tapes online in an effort to quell concerns about transparency and accuracy. Since 2016, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has presented the Clearinghouse Awards, also known as “Clearies,” each year to recognize best practices in election administration and the hard work of local election offices across the country. Prince William County’s Office of Elections was awarded a Clearie Award for the first time this year for its transparency efforts during the 2024 presidential election. It was the first Clearie Award won by any county office of elections in Virginia, according to a news release. “The most effective way to combat disinformation and concerns at the local level is to provide heightened levels of transparency that allow the public access in new and unprecedented ways,” the entry stated.

The Rockingham County Circuit Court houses several collections of court records, including chancery, criminal, road and bridge, and marriage certificates dating back to the 1700s. It can be difficult to know where to start when looking for information. Each semester, the archives assistants from James Madison University and Bridgewater College work to categorize and make these records available to the public. This semester, it was time to explore road and bridge records from the 1780s to the late 1960s. These records consist of 47 boxes and hundreds of folders of documents. Road and bridge records can show how infrastructure has drastically changed over time, as well as the genealogy of where families lived and where they moved. To process these records, they had to be cleaned, repaired, and closely processed in order to be sorted by document type and analyzed to identify the people and locations involved. Some locations are still present today, such as a road leading to Showalter’s Orchard and the creation of Port Republic Road. This process has been completed over the past two semesters, and the next step is to digitize all of these documents.