"The company said 'no opposition from the government or public is known or anticipated due (sic) the project’s consistency with city plans.'"
|
The City of Portsmouth filed rebuttals to the comments VOCG and the Virginia Press Association filed with the FOIA Council subcommittee studying phishing and public records.
FOIA Council
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney fired his top administrator Wednesday on the heels of a scathing report laying out how five of her relatives secured jobs with city departments she oversaw. At least one — Chief Administrative Officer Selena Cuffee-Glenn’s daughter Alexis K. Glenn — received higher pay than nearly everyone in a similar job with the city even after the city’s Human Resources Department initially refused to sign off on it, according to the report by city Inspector General James Osuna that was sent to the City Council on Wednesday. Another relative, Cuffee-Glenn’s niece, received a background check and a job offer for a position paying $70,000 before ever filling out an application. Cuffee-Glenn told investigators that she informed the mayor her daughter had been hired after her daughter started in March, but Stoney’s announcement of Cuffee-Glenn’s firing said he found out in May, the same month The Times-Dispatch first reported it. A whistleblower’s complaint initiated the inspector general probe in April. The investigation revealed that Public Works Director Bobby Vincent Jr. and Public Utilities Director Calvin Farr Jr. were aware that Cuffee-Glenn’s daughter was looking for a job with the city and helped facilitate her hiring.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Mayor Levar Stoney has fired the city’s chief administrative officer, Selena Cuffee-Glenn, the day he received a report from the inspector general detailing how six of her relatives, including her daughter and husband, came to work for the city. The city denied a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Style seeking the names, titles, pay rates and other public information about any employees who were related to Selena Cuffee-Glenn. The city citied familial relationships as an exemption to FOIA law, so Style amended its request, seeking information about two employees by name. A response to that request, due Sept. 18 according to FOIA law, has gone unanswered.
Style Weekly
Citing “controversy and division,” a Virginia Beach-based developer has killed its proposal to develop Portsmouth’s waterfront. In a letter sent Tuesday to Economic Development Director Robert Moore, Armada Hoffler Executive Vice President Bernard Shumate said the company is withdrawing plans to move city buildings inland and make room for private construction along the river. The problem, the developer said, is that it’s not getting enough support from the city. Residents have urged public officials for months to slow down and negotiate more openly. And in response, City Council members have twice stalled a vote in recent weeks to set aside nearly half a million dollars to pay for the company’s designs for a new city hall and public safety buildings. Before The Virginian-Pilot reported about the Nov. 15 proposal, Armada Hoffler’s plans were not widely available. In that document, the company said “no opposition from the government or public is known or anticipated due (sic) the project’s consistency with city plans,” referring to broader efforts to boost shoreline development.
The Virginian-Pilot
Members of Congress view inspectors general as an objective source of information aimed at combating fraud, waste and abuse in government, as well as reliable investigators of whistleblower retaliation and sexual harassment at the agencies they oversee. But members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee have raised concerns about the capability of the federal IG community, also known as the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), to conduct internal oversight of other watchdog offices. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the chairman of the subcommittee on government operations, said IGs rank among the “most important and misunderstood jobs in our federal government,” but require more accountability to Congress. To that point, Connolly and Subcommittee Ranking Member Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) have introduced a bill that would make CIGIE’s Integrity Committee more transparent and responsive to Congress.
Federal News Network
Strasburg Mayor Richard Orndorff Jr. is opposing a petition filed by citizens to have him removed from office. Through an attorney, Orndorff released a rebuttal Wednesday to allegations made in the petition, arguing the petition lacks evidence and is operating as “an attempt to short circuit the normal process of electing a person to serve as mayor for the Town of Strasburg.” Orndorff’s attorney, Phillip S. Griffin II, argued the petition is “transparently lacking in facts.”
The Northern Virginia Daily
|