Transparency News, 7/14/2022

Thursday
July 14, 2022

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state & local news stories

 

Leesburg Town Council voted in three new members of the Commission on Public Art (COPA) Tuesday night, despite a few citizens who disapproved of the removal of their predecessors and of the Black history mural. The new members are Kirsten Ponticelli, an artist and 2022 graduate of Loudoun County High School; artist Deborah Morbeto; and art therapist and teacher Huyen MacMichael. Council voted on June 28 to remove three of the seven COPA members after they took the board out of quorum by walking out on a presentation about a Black history mural on the side of the Loudoun Museum. “I am disheartened by this council’s action in firing three members of the Commission on Public Art who refused to be railroaded into a vote without appropriate discussion and consideration,” said Sharon Virts, the chair of the Loudoun Museum board of trustees.
Loudoun Times-Mirror

In the search for hard-to-find bottles of bourbon at Virginia ABC stores, some liquor enthusiasts have been worried about leaks of a more serious kind. Employees of the government-run liquor monopoly would have access to highly valuable inside information about which products were going where, and the system could lead to some buyers getting tipped off early about stores that would be selling rare bottles of Blanton’s, Buffalo Trace or other brands, many bourbon collectors complained. The conspiracy theories apparently weren’t wrong. An ABC investigation led to four felony indictments against two men who were arrested last month and charged with computer trespass and embezzling ABC’s inventory list.  “We have identified a case where an employee violated ABC policy in the use of inventory information,” said agency CEO Travis Hill. “And we are now working with the commonwealth’s attorney to charge that individual criminally.”
Virginia Mercury

Michael Drewry resigned from the Surry County Board of Supervisors on July 11 after filing a lawsuit seeking to overturn the board’s vote to approve a regional biogas facility that would be sited near his home. Align RNG, a joint venture of Dominion Energy and Smithfield Foods, received the board’s 2-1 approval on June 2 to construct a regional processing facility near the Surry-Sussex county line that would turn methane from hog manure, also known as biogas, into pipeline-quality natural gas. The facility would serve as a hub for participating Smithfield Foods farms in Sussex, Surry, Isle of Wight and Southampton counties. Drewry, who cast the sole dissenting vote on Align’s requested conditional use permit, asks in his complaint that Surry County’s Circuit Court declare the board’s vote “null and void” on grounds that the county Planning Commission allegedly “did not follow” procedures required under state law when vetting the project last fall. Drewry’s lawsuit contends that Surry neglected to provide the written notice required by state law to all owners of abutting properties, including four in neighboring Sussex County, ahead of the Planning Commission’s Sept. 27, 2021, public hearing on Align’s requested permit.
The Smithfield Times

stories of national interest

Members of Chicago’s City Council have been marking themselves present for meetings but failing to cast votes when called upon, a BGA Policy analysis found, despite council rules requiring all members present to vote unless recused under conflict-of-interest laws. For this analysis, the BGA Policy Team looked specifically at meetings held and votes taken since Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s and the current City Council’s May 20, 2019 inauguration through the end of May 2022. A vote was considered to be “missed” if an alderperson had identified themselves as present for the quorum call or other first roll call vote of a meeting, and then at a subsequent roll call vote in that same meeting failed to cast a “yea” or “nay” vote or recuse themselves.
Better Government Association

The Washington State Court of Appeals in Tacoma ruled Tuesday that the City of Lakewood performed an inadequate search when it used a misspelled name to look for public records.
Washington Court of Appeals
 

editorials & columns

 

The University of Colorado’s Board of Regents already has a bad track record with transparency. So one might be forgiven for assuming that this embattled board would avoid hosting its ostensibly-public summer retreat at a cost-prohibitive resort clear on the other side of the state, while declining to live-stream the event. But we all know what assuming does. To be clear, the regents’ summer retreat, which began Wednesday, is not an official board meeting. No votes are held. No policy decisions are made. The summer retreat is, above all else, a chance for the regents to attempt to form something resembling a truce. The overtly partisan members often struggle to see eye to eye, and the retreat offers a few relaxing days to iron out some personal wrinkles before the start of the new school year. Like all work retreats, the change of scenery is meant to help form bonds and establish working relationships that might otherwise be difficult to initiate in a buttoned-up office setting. It makes sense, then, for the meeting to take place in some picturesque Colorado locale. In previous years, that picturesque locale was Tabernash, a quaint mountain town less than two hours from Boulder, complete with plenty of hotels and amenities for a curious public — or the journalists who serve as their emissaries. But this year, instead of Tabernash, the regents have chosen Gateway. And while Gateway looks to be another picturesque Colorado locale, it is clear on the other side of the state — five long hours from Boulder — and has exactly one source of lodging: Gateway Canyons, a $480-per-night resort where the regents are hosting their retreat.
Boulder Daily Camera

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