Transparency News 10/17/17

Tuesday, October 17, 2017



State and Local Stories

Time. In the world of public records requests, this can be an obstacle both to the requester and the records custodian. And this is not just an issue in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I have been conducting research on the interactions between requesters and custodians for years. One constant complaint from records custodians is the requirement to respond to requests in a certain amount of time. A consistent response I get in in just about every study is that they don’t have enough time to respond to records requests plus complete the rest of their work duties. However, that does not mean that the requests are then to be ignored.
Shelley Kimball, VCOG’s Truth in the Field Blog

Nottoway County Administrator Ronnie Roark violated Virginia’s Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) earlier this year, but the violation wasn’t made “knowingly or willfully.” That’s the wording in a settlement agreement ordered Friday in Nottoway Circuit Court. Roark, Nottoway’s Administrator for nearly 43 years, will have to pay costs of the court and $3,500 in attorney fees to complainant Eileen McAfee of Short Pump in Henrico County, plus her $58 court filing fee. Roark reportedly will make payment using his personal funds, not the County’s. Roark reportedly also has six months to attend a FOIA training session offered by the Virginia Legislative Advisory Council. Mrs. McAfee, an animal care advocate, says she’s satisfied by the outcome and tells the Courier-Record she “adamantly” rejected a confidentiality requirement sought by Roark’s attorneys.
Courier-Record article reposted on VCOG’s website

Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s administration has not yet fulfilled a series of information requests from the lawyer the city of Charlottesville hired to review the violent white nationalist rally in August and how public officials planned for the danger that came with it.  Tim Heaphy, a former federal prosecutor hired to lead Charlottesville’s review, said in early September that he had requested information from state agencies and asked to interview state officials as he examines the coordinated response to the rally. As of last week, Heaphy said he had not been granted access to the records he was seeking. “We have not yet received replies to the (Freedom of Information Act) requests we’ve submitted or the separate requests for information I’ve sent to various state agencies,” Heaphy said in an Oct. 9 email to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Because the McAuliffe administration does not consider the post-Charlottesville task force on civil unrest a public body, the meetings haven’t been announced on official state calendars. Before the task force started its work, its members — almost all of whom are government officials — were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement saying they understood that the disclosure of certain information could cause “irreparable harm” to the governor’s office.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Abingdon town leaders approved the appeal of a recent decision in favor of a lawsuit that accused them and the town attorney of violating the Freedom of Information Act. The Abingdon Town Council voted 3-2 in favor of the appeal. The town had 10 days from when Judge Danny Bird, a retired district judge, signed the court order outlining his decision that was written by Barry Proctor, the attorney who represented the man who filed the lawsuit. Due to the deadline, the Town Council was unable to meet to approve the appeal and so it was addressed in Monday night’s meeting. The lawsuit said that a letter Town Attorney Deborah Icenhour sent to judge on behalf of Lowe, Humphreys and Howard, requesting guidance on the behavior of Patterson, who was charged with misdemeanor domestic assault, violated public meetings law because it was not discussed during a public meeting. Patterson has been found not guilty.
Bristol Herald Courier

The ink started drying on the options for Chesterfield County’s Economic Development Authority to buy nearly 1,700 acres in southeastern Chesterfield more than a year ago, a fact that has contributed to the backlash county officials are facing over their plans for an industrial megasite on the land. Part of the criticism has to do with residents feeling that the county’s EDA isn’t being as transparent as it could be with plans to rezone and buy the nearly 1,700 acres.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Charlottesville community members representing a civic technology non-profit, the university, and the city will discuss Charlottesville's recent open data portal rollout. From three unique perspectives, they will discuss the promise and challenge of taking the newly released data and turning it into something that generates civic engagement, civic innovation, career development, and neighborhood awareness.
Meetup


National Stories


In documents it released on Monday, the FBI confirmed that former FBI Director James Comey drafted a statement about the conclusion of the Hillary Clinton email investigation months before interviewing Clinton. The records show that on May 2, 2016, Comey emailed Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, general counsel James Baker and chief of staff and senior counselor James Rybicki. The subject of the email was "midyear exam," and though the email says its contents are unclassified, the body of the email is redacted in the release.
Newsweek

A judge has ordered Kentucky State University to let the attorney general examine some documents about alleged sexual misconduct of some of the school's employees. The University of Kentucky's student newspaper asked to see the records last year. But Kentucky State University officials denied the request, saying it would disclose private information. The newspaper appealed that denial to Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear, who has jurisdiction over the state's open records law. Beshear asked to view the documents in private before he made a decision on whether they should be public. But Kentucky State University officials refused to let Beshear see the documents. Judge Thomas Wingate ruled Friday not letting Beshear to look at the documents "could only thwart the public interest of transparency in government."
McClatchy

Two candidates for South Dakota governor have committed to supporting legislation that would give the public access to additional government records including officials' correspondence, a major potential shift in state open records law.
McClatchy

Advocacy groups for disabled schoolchildren and their parents may soon be allowed access to redacted reports of settlements with and programs made available to other disabled children, according to a New Jersey appeals court decision Monday. Appellate Division Judge Jack Sabatino, joined by Judges Mitchel Ostrer and Mary Gibbons Whipple, said the plaintiffs could be allowed access to certain records, provided that safeguards are implemented. The appeals court stayed its order for 30 days for the parties to file appeals with the state Supreme Court. The plaintiffs can be granted access to related documents provided that they are appropriately redacted to protect the privacy rights of other students. Those documents also should be made available to qualified researchers on the subject of the education of disabled students, Sabatino said. The plaintiffs must also obtain a court order before being able to review any of those records, the judges said. Additionally, the parents of disabled students who may be affected by the release of any documents, even though they may already be redacted, must be given advance notice and the right to object to any release, or to ask for further redactions or modifications, the appeals court said. Any release of documents must ensure that personal identifying material remains confidential, the panel ruled.
New Jersey Law Journal


Editorials/Columns


SHODDY WORK by the Office of the State Inspector General in a review of a 2015 death at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail laid bare some structural flaws inherent in an agency charged with rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in Virginia government. It raised questions about the reach of the inspector general’s authority, and prompted lawmakers to review both the legislation that created the OSIG and the person serving in that critical role. June Jennings, the inspector general at the time, was effectively removed from her post in February. Now, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission — the oversight arm of the General Assembly — plans to conduct a thorough examination of the OSIG, with an eye toward resolving some of the questions about its role and the limits of its reach. This is a worthwhile and necessary endeavor, the only shame of which is that the final report is not expected until 2019. However, knowing the quality of work produced by JLARC, residents and officials alike can expect the study to illuminate a path forward for the OSIG.
Virginian-Pilot
 
 
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