Transparency News, 5/27/2022

Friday
May 27, 2022

There will not be a newsletter Monday.
An enjoyable and safe Memorial Day Weekend to you all.
(Oh, and sorry about the bad formatting in yesterday's newsletter!)
 

state & local news stories

"Apparently, he thinks at 4:30 in the afternoon while he’s in the shower to come up with questions and do away with our Monday work sessions."

Across an eight-county agreement to bring residents universal broadband coverage, Rappahannock County is the only locality to have Board of Supervisor members vote against the initiative. Almost every county unanimously approved the project, with the exception of Rockingham County where a supervisor abstained after stepping out of a meeting during discussion before the vote. Counties that unanimously approved the project include Fauquier, Page, Augusta, Clarke, Frederick and Warren. Throughout the process, supervisors Ron Frazier and Christine Smith have been concerned over the lack of information coming from All Points and NSVRC to the counties. There is currently no timeline for when construction will begin or how long it will be until residents can expect service. There are also no maps that show what specific locations in the county will be eligible for service. 
Rappanahannock News

The Augusta County Board of Supervisors approved a few steps to bring the county closer to purchasing body and dash cameras for the sheriff’s office, but not without tempers flaring at Wednesday night’s meeting. When the board approved the fiscal year budget on May 11, Wayne Supervisor Scott Seaton motioned for the board to request the county attorney to see if holding a referendum where voters decided whether to purchase body cameras was possible. That motion was tabled. Seaton announced Wednesday the county attorney sent the board a memo saying the board did not have the authority to hold a referendum for the purchase of equipment for law enforcement. After relaying this information, Seaton made his first of several motions throughout the night.  “I think Dr. Seaton has his own agenda,” Supervisor Steve Morelli said. “I think he’s not a team player. Apparently, he thinks at 4:30 in the afternoon while he’s in the shower to come up with questions and do away with our Monday work sessions. I think he’s totally disgusting tonight. We have voted on this; he has beaten this thing to death, and the sheriff is doing his own study. Dr. Seaton, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for this.”
The News Virginian

The widow of the 77-year-old man who died two weeks after being brought to the ground by Warren County Sheriff's deputies during an April 2 traffic stop says she's been left in the dark about the investigation. Linda Ennis said the Warren County Sheriff's Office has told her nothing new since the April 15 death of her husband Ralph Ennis. Earlier this month, Warren County Sheriff's Major Jeff Driskill told The Northern Virginia Daily in response to several questions that no new information would be released until the investigation is finished. He declined to identify the people who had been appointed to a board of inquiry tasked with an internal investigation of the traffic stop.
The Northern Virginia Daily

After the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts told CBS 6 it would charge more than $28,000 to fulfill a request for information, a Virginia lawmaker spoke out against significantly high fees charged by government agencies to provide public records to citizens. “The Freedom of Information Act is the single most important tool we have for government accountability outside of your ability to vote," said Democratic State Delegate, Danica Roem. “They're supposed to only be charging fees to cover costs. Instead, what actually happens is they use FOIA fees as a deterrent to try to get people to not file FOIA requests in the first place," Roem said. "$28,000 FOIA fees? You know that's being done as a deterrent."
WTVR
 

editorials & columns

Attorney General Jason Miyares was partially successful in his efforts to challenge much of the secrecy shielding key data in Dominion Energy Virginia’s application to build its planned offshore wind facility, with some useful precedents set for the future. Just before the hearings on the application began last week, a State Corporation Commission hearing examiner accepted the Attorney General Office’s motion in part and rejected it in part. As a result, several portions of the SCC staff testimony have been filed again with dozens of previously redacted sections now open. Much of importance remains off the record, hidden from the public, and it is not just board presentations or data about individual vendor bids. In the future, if the hearing officer’s ruling is precedent, the challenge to confidentiality should be made early on, when the utility cannot plead that it lacks time to respond.
Stephen D. Haner, Suffolk News-Herald