Transparency News 7/25/19

 

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Thursday
July 25, 2019

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state & local news stories

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“This is a pretty heavy decision to make behind closed doors and not give the public any explanation.” -- Preston Bryant, former Lynchburg-area delegate.

The FOIA Council has posted a best-practices resource about FOIA and social media. These are the main headings:
What exactly is “social media” for the purposes of FOIA?
Can social media posts be public records?
What about social media posts from other people?
What about record retention?
Can a meeting be conducted on social media?
Tips for Best Practice
Where do I go for more information?
FOI Advisory Council

Josh Stanfield of Yorktown was surprised by the response he received to an FOIA request he made to the office of Attorney General Mark Herring. Stanfield was told to "kindly remit a deposit of $420.09 by check" if he wanted to proceed. State law allows government agencies to charge the public for the agency's actual cost of fulfilling a Freedom of Information Act request. The Attorney General's Office estimated that eight people would need to work on Stanfield's request. Adding up the amount of time they would work on it, based on their salaries, came to $420.09, according to a letter to Stanfield from Meaghan O'Brien, the attorney general's FOIA officer.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The City of Portsmouth plastered three bright orange signs on the doors of the Portsmouth Civic Center on Wednesday afternoon, alerting passersby that the complex that includes the city jail was unlivable. The move came a day after City Manager Lydia Pettis Patton told the City Council that the jail is not safe for human habitation and must be evacuated immediately. "The jail and its ancillary offices are housed in a building that is over 50 years old," Pettis Patton said during a council work session. "The building must be vacated." Pettis Patton’s three-minute report on the jail — which wasn’t on Tuesday night’s agenda — was the result of a set of studies carried out by contractors who, at the request of the City Council earlier this year, spent months examining the quality of the jail’s building, including its structural integrity, environmental safety and mechanical components. Pettis Patton held up the reports before council members Tuesday night but did not distribute them to the public. She and a city spokeswoman didn’t respond to requests Wednesday for copies of the reports.
The Virginian-Pilot

Robert Gravely, the man who last year for a second time threatened to have members of the Roanoke City Council shot, was barred for life Wednesday from council meetings and city hall. The restriction was part of Gravely’s sentence from Roanoke General District Judge Tom Roe for a conviction of misdemeanor disorderly conduct that resulted from Gravely’s threats and disruption of a Dec. 3 council meeting. Gravely already was temporarily barred from council meetings. Despite Gravely’s testimony that public officials who don’t listen to him deserve to die, Roe declined a request from Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Andrew Stephens to put the 72-year-old in jail for a year. Instead, Roe imposed a 12-month sentence but suspended all of it.
The Roanoke Times

After what turned into a heated discussion between Harrisonburg City Councilmen Sal Romero and Chris Jones, the majority of council decided to keep public comment at the end of the City Council agenda. In Tuesday’s council meeting, Romero requested that council move the public comment to the beginning of the meeting and give three minutes instead of five minutes to speak. He first brought up the request at the June 25 meeting. After what turned into a heated discussion between Councilmen Sal Romero and Chris Jones, the majority of council decided to keep public comment at the end of the City Council agenda. In Tuesday’s council meeting, Romero requested that council move the public comment to the beginning of the meeting and give three minutes instead of five minutes to speak. He first brought up the request at the June 25 meeting.
Daily News Record

Town of Amherst officials filed a request in Amherst Circuit Court last Thursday seeking a special election on Nov. 5 for voters to determine who will fill the seat made vacant by town council’s controversial decision to expel a member, Janice Wheaton. Wheaton has not yet said if she will run for office again but she has the legal right to do so as a registered voter and town resident. Before the vote to expel Wheaton, council went into a closed session and cited “personnel disciplining of specific public officers” as a reason. Paul Kilgore, a former Amherst mayor and real estate agent, said he personally doesn’t believe the closed session should have applied in this case because a council member is an elected official and not an officer, appointee or employee of a public body. “This is a pretty heavy decision to make behind closed doors and not give the public any explanation,” said Preston Bryant, who represented Lynchburg and Madison Heights in Virginia's House of Delegates 23 seat from 1996 to 2006. “That just strikes me as wrong.”
The News & Advance

Clarke County board and commission members soon will be expected to communicate electronically about government matters via email addresses issued by the county. The same will be expected of people who represent the county on regional public bodies. Members of the Clarke County Board of Supervisors have long had government-issued email addresses. The board recently directed that the county issue addresses to more than 40 people serving on other bodies. The decision came following a request from Lora Walburn, the county’s records and Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) compliance officer.  According to Walburn, county-issued email addresses should make it easier and more convenient for the county to respond to FOIA requests. Board and commission members will not have to wade through a sea of correspondence in their personal email or social medial accounts to find county-related correspondence. The FOIA officer or the county’s information technology manager will easily be able to find any communications via the members’ government-issued addresses.
The Winchester Star

The Strasburg Town Council plans to present members of the town’s boards and commissions with an updated Council Code of Conduct. The code of conduct, which builds on an existing document Town Council follows, changes some language to make it clearer what the council expects of its elected and appointed public officials. Appointed officials are considered volunteers who receive only a small stipend for their work. Councilwoman Taralyn Nicholson was concerned about scaring off potential applicants, which she said the town’s rigorous interview process has already been doing. The revised Council Code of Conduct is being finalized before Monday’s meeting, but includes language concerning acting “with respect and civility to all persons at all times” and conducting “public discussions, processes, and deliberations in accordance with legal requirements.”
The Northern Virginia Daily

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