Transparency News 8/4/16

 

The FOIA Council workgroup on personnel records meets today at 10 a.m. in the General Assembly Building (2nd Floor, Redistricting Room). The public is welcome!

Charles City County records that were taken by a Union soldier during the Civil War have been returned, closing part of a gap in wills, marriages, indentures and other court filings from the 1600s.  The records disappeared in August 1862, during the Peninsula Campaign.  On Aug. 15 at 10 a.m., local and state officials will celebrate their return on the 154th anniversary of their disappearance. Charles City is among about 20 Virginia counties whose records were destroyed or pillaged during the war. 
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The Norfolk School Board was to meet yesterday, but an anticipated discussion about its new equity policy was not on the agenda the morning of. At a July 20 meeting, two board members asked Chair Rodney Jordan why there was so little information on the development of the policy it approved in January. Neither Jordan nor Vice Chair Noelle Gabriel, who set the agenda, would answer The Pilot’s questions about it. Jordan discussed other parts of the agenda via email but refused to talk about the equity policy, which affects how the division distributes money, teachers and other resources to schools. Member Courtney Doyle asked Jordan for more information in advance, even if it’s tentative, “so that we know what’s coming.” Jordan said he’s concerned about the media reporting it. “We may be formulating something, it gets out there in the draft, the media picks it up, says it’s something we’re going to do before it’s been finalized,” he said. Doyle said that wasn't a good excuse. “We can’t work based on the media’s inability to report accurately,” she said.
Virginian-Pilot

In the months leading up to the November general election, Albemarle County expects to spend $42,000 on educational mailers, fact sheets, advertisements and legal notices about the general obligation bond referendum approved last month. The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors voted, 5-1, Wednesday to approve county staff’s plan to educate voters on the referendum — a measure that includes legal notices, advertisements and a mailer.
Daily Progress

People who have words for the Hampton City Council may soon get to address the elected officials without sitting through an entire council meeting. For now, anyway. Following a discussion at a retreat Wednesday, the council is leaning toward moving the public-comment period from the end of council meetings to the middle – after public hearings and before general items – for a six-month trial period. The change follows complaints that residents who attend the 6:30 p.m. meeting to give comments have to sit through the entire meeting, which sometimes go past 9 p.m., before speaking their piece.
Daily Press




Editorials/Columns

Petersburg Mayor Howard Myers’ insistence that Petersburg officials are not trying to hide anything from the public probably should be taken with a grain of salt. Setting up a series of meetings on short notice at awkward times in tight spaces is not the sort of evidence that would support such an assertion. But even if Myers’ protestation is completely sincere, it does not exonerate the city leadership. Speeding in a school zone is illegal whether you intended to or not.
Richmond Times-Dispatch