Transparency News, 10/9/20

 

Friday
October 9, 2020
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state & local news stories

 
"Phone records reveal that Navarro spoke to the utility’s representatives on March 4 just before and after emailing negotiators the tweaked legislation."
 
When Democrats campaigned for the Virginia legislature last year, they took aim at the state’s largest power broker: Dominion Energy. But over the next 11 weeks of the legislative session, Dominion fought back and ended up as a winner in a bill intended to diminish its influence. Angela Navarro, Northam’s deputy commerce secretary, led talks between Dominion and the environmental groups. Navarro said in a July interview she had no records from anyone asking her to make that change. She said the group negotiated the language. “I think we discussed it amongst all of the stakeholders,” Navarro said. But five of the main environmental and trade association members who participated in discussions told the Times-Dispatch and ProPublica they did not ask for the alteration and weren’t aware of it at the time. Documents obtained through a FOIA request show that the language change was, in fact, a priority for Dominion. And phone records reveal that Navarro spoke to the utility’s representatives on March 4 just before and after emailing negotiators the tweaked legislation. One of those representatives did not return phone calls seeking comment and the other said she did not remember the nature of the conversation.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Recently departed Suffolk City Manager Patrick Roberts wanted a better work-life balance and had found a different job that he felt was more in line with that. In a Sept. 29 email from Roberts to all city staff obtained by the Suffolk News-Herald through a Freedom of Information Act request, he expressed that it was the right time for him to leave Suffolk.
Suffolk News Herald

The Health Department has recommended that the Virginia Beach City Council and Planning Commission no longer hold public meetings at City Hall for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Suite 5 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center will be the new meeting place so everyone will have enough room to space out, the city announced on Thursday. The change comes a few days after Councilman John Moss announced he tested positive for COVID-19. The next scheduled council meeting will be on Tuesday. The council and commission have already held several meetings at the Convention Center due to the pandemic, but have occasionally returned to council chambers for meetings that aren’t expecting large crowds. The Convention Center can accommodate up to 40 audience members and has plenty of room for people to wait outside if it reaches capacity.
The Virginian-Pilot


editorials & columns

 
"We remain against the policy change, because it leaves too many people out and because we believe it is unnecessary."
 
A month ago, the Suffolk community first learned of the Suffolk School Board’s intention to level another restriction against free speech and transparency by regulating who can speak at its meetings. The proposed change to policy said that only members of the “Suffolk community” could speak at meetings. After realizing that was too vague, the board at least had the good sense to define what that means in its revised proposed policy. However, we remain against the policy change, because it leaves too many people out and because we believe it is unnecessary. In the revision, members of the Suffolk community were defined as such: any resident of Suffolk; any parent or legal guardian of a child enrolled in SPS; any business owner licensed to conduct business in the city; any person who owns property in Suffolk; any employee of SPS; and any student enrolled in SPS. They surely hit all of the main categories that are needed, but this proposed policy still leaves people out — some very important people. It leaves out Grandma and Grandpa who live in Chesapeake or Carrollton or Gates County and really enjoy driving to Suffolk to volunteer at their grandchild’s school. It leaves out leaders in major regional industries and economic drivers like the shipyards, the port, the military, colleges and universities and others. It leaves out experts in their field and movers and shakers in the nonprofit world who might have valuable input on the topic of the day. It leaves out former employees. It leaves out alumni of Suffolk Public Schools.
Suffolk News Herald
 
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