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"I want you to have the information and make a decision on your own.”
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It was a war of words inside City Council Chambers on Monday, August 6, as the crowd and councilors argued over how the interim city manager was chosen. A fiery back-and-forth over how council chose Murphy as the interim city manager and why candidate Sidney Zemp turned down the position. Mayor Nikuyah Walker said she wanted the public to be able to see Zemp's cover letter and resume, but that did not happen. “There are people within this community who say I was trying to sway your opinions,” says Walker. “That's not how I work. I want you to have the information and make a decision on your own.” Walker posted a text message exchange between her and Zemp on Facebook in which she asked him if she could release his resume to the public, but he expressed opposition to it until after a contract was signed.
WVIR
Abingdon Town Council decided Monday to settle with plaintiff Kevin Sandenaw in pending [FOIA] litigation that involves three former council members and a former town attorney. Sandenaw filed a lawsuit last year in Washington County Circuit Court accusing former council members Cathy Lowe, Rick Humphreys and Bob Howard and former Town Attorney Deb Icenhour of violating the Freedom of Information Act by sending a letter asking for a judge’s legal opinion without notifying the public or their fellow council members. The original litigation named the Town Council as a defendant. On Sept. 19, Judge Danny Bird ruled in favor of Sandenaw. The Abingdon Town Council later voted to appeal the decision. Following a closed session Monday, the council approved a settlement agreement with Sandenaw that drops the Town Council from the case but agrees that each party shall pay their own attorney fees.
Bristol Herald Courier
Fredericksburg City Public Schools Superintendent David Melton oversees the region’s smallest school system, but collects a larger paycheck than his counterparts in surrounding counties. The Free Lance–Star submitted Freedom of Information Act requests for contracts of superintendents in the immediate Fredericksburg region after the Stafford County School Board announced last month its signing of the school system’s fourth leader in 11 years. Incoming Stafford Superintendent Scott Kizner, 60, will collect an annual base salary of $226,000 when he starts Sept. 1, making him the highest-paid schools chief in the county’s history.
Free Lance-Star
A social media platform can be compelled to divulge account information belonging to a woman who anonymously chatted online about plans for last summer’s deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, a federal magistrate judge ruled Monday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero’s 28-page order says the woman’s First Amendment rights to anonymous speech don’t outweigh the importance of disclosing her identity to plaintiffs’ attorneys suing over the rally’s violence. Leaked Discord messages indicate the woman, identified only as “Jane Doe” in court papers, likely was involved in planning the event last August, the magistrate said.
The Daily Progress
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