Transparency News, 11/3/21

Smithfield officials have declined to release preliminary development plans for the former Pierceville homestead. Former Smithfield Foods Chairman Joseph W. Luter III purchased and razed the 1730s-era farmhouse at 502 Grace St. and the adjacent Little’s Supermarket on Main Street last year. For the past 11 months, the 50-plus acres have been vacant waiting for Luter to break ground on a development of unspecified size. In August, Smithfield Planning Commission Chairman Randy Pack said he’d seen presentations showing “240-some apartments” proposed. But fellow Commissioner Julia Hillegass said in October that she had yet to see a site plan for Pierceville, citing that lack of information among her reasons for casting the sole vote against allowing the elder Luter to build duplexes at a smaller development he’d proposed for the corner of Washington and James streets. The Smithfield Times sought the Pierceville plans via a Freedom of Information Act request on Oct. 21. Town Manager Michael Stallings replied the same day, stating per the advice of Town Attorney William Riddick III that “we have elected to withhold them based on section 2.2-3705.6 (3).” That section of the Code of Virginia states voluntary information that is provided by a private business “pursuant to a promise of confidentiality from a public body” is excluded from the mandatory disclosure provisions of FOIA if “competition or bargaining is involved” and “disclosure of such information would adversely affect the financial interest of the public body.”
The Smithfield Times

People who work full-time jobs usually receive vacation time every year. Should City Council members enjoy the same benefit? That question was raised during Tuesday afternoon’s meeting of the Winchester Finance Committee. While reviewing council’s proposed meeting schedule for 2022, Mayor and committee Chairman David Smith asked Deputy City Manager Mary Blowe if the schedule could incorporate some down time for councilors in July and December. “Now that we have the committee meetings, we’re constantly in meetings,” Smith said, referring to the four City Council committees — Finance, Boards and Commissions, Planning and Economic Development, and Public Health and Safety — that were created one year ago and meet on a monthly basis to vet items before they are presented to the full council. Each committee is comprised of three council members.
The Winchester Star

 

The Michigan Senate gave approval Tuesday to a bill that would ban the use on state-issued phones of text messaging encryption apps that can be used to evade the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. The Senate approved House Bill 4778 in a 35-0 vote. A version of the bill earlier passed the state House with unanimous support. Because the wording of the bill was changed in the Senate, it must now return to the House for concurrence before it is sent to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her signature. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Steve Johnson, R-Wayland, told a Senate committee in September he saw the need for the bill after reading a series of articles in the Free Press about the use of Signal by top officials at the Michigan State Police.
Detroit Free Press