A Richmond councilmember, Kenya Gibson, is pushing to bring so-called “radical transparency” to City Hall through a proposed measure that would require the city to increase the public’s access to information in an unprecedented way. But the proposal is facing some pushback from the top city manager, which led to a tense exchange during a council committee meeting Wednesday. Gibson announced that “the most poignant context for this discussion is the legal complaint now in progress between the city and our former FOIA officer.” Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald disapproved of Gibson bringing up the legal fight in a public forum, adding that the lawsuit shouldn’t be “used as a black eye against the city.” “FOIA is not just as simple as black and white. There are unintended consequences to legislation that is created,” Donald said. “I’d be interested to find out if, as written, does it increase the liability to the city?” Gibson responded, “To be clear, the way that Virginia state law defines the Freedom of Information Act, it’s simply not structured to be a vehicle to protect the city from liability.”
In recent months, Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chair Deshundra Jefferson participated in town hall meetings to address concerns about a controversial plan to allow five data centers behind the Four Seasons retirement community in Dumfries. Now, the developer behind the project is suing her. Last week, Atlantic Funding Limited LLC, which wants to sell about 61 acres behind Four Seasons to develop it for data centers, filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that Jefferson attended two public town halls and spread misinformation to garner opposition to the project.
Richmond’s top government officials gathered at Maymont Thursday to mark what they say is the start of a new era for how the city creates its annual budget. A new budget won’t be passed until next spring, but Thursday’s event was meant to be a symbolic first step toward a new process officials hope will bring about more collaboration and fewer power struggles over how taxpayer dollars should be spent. Mayor Danny Avula, City Council members, Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald II and numerous City Hall department heads attended the budget kickoff event. There’s already one crack in the unified front officials wanted to project Thursday. Over the objections of Avula and Donald, the Council recently passed a budget transparency measure that will require the city to publicize departmental budget requests that were previously considered confidential to the mayor’s office.
Scheduling a trial for Purcellville Vice Mayor Carl “Ben” Nett and Town Manager Kwasi Fraser was again delayed today during a hearing at the Loudoun County Circuit Court. Attorneys for Nett and Fraser were granted limited access to the transcripts from a grand jury that handed down indictments against them. Special Prosecutor Eric Olsen said Thursday that the transcripts are not finished yet. Olsen said he plans to file a motion joining the cases together, but that the defense attorneys cannot respond to that motion until they learn more about the case through the transcripts.
