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FOIA Friday: Judges order release of Richmond shooting report, Augusta closed session recording [1]
['Staff Report', 'More From Author', '- January']
Date: 2024-01-19
One of the less noticed features of the Virginia Way is the long-running tendency of the commonwealth’s leaders to conduct their decision-making behind closed doors. While the Virginia Freedom of Information Act presumes all government business is by default public and requires officials to justify why exceptions should be made, too many Virginia leaders in practice take the opposite stance, acting as if records are by default private and the public must prove they should be handled otherwise.
In this feature, we aim to highlight the frequency with which officials around Virginia are resisting public access to records on issues large and small — and note instances when the release of information under FOIA gave the public insight into how government bodies are operating.
Judge orders release of Richmond graduation shooting report
A Richmond judge ordered the local school board to release an external report it commissioned on a June 2023 shooting outside a high school graduation, saying the Virginia Freedom of Information Act did not allow the board to argue attorney-client privilege shielded the entire document from view.
“Any potential consequences of publicly disclosing the report are not a basis to exempt the report from mandatory disclosure,” wrote Judge W. Reilly Marchant in his decision. He also concluded that “a non-privileged document does not somehow become privileged simply because it includes information the owner would prefer not to disclose.”
The case was brought by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, local news station WTVR and transparency advocate Josh Stanfield. While Marchant allowed “minimal” redactions to the report, his ruling led to the release of not only the final 32-page document but also roughly 1,100 pages of exhibits, including the transcripts of interviews conducted as part of its preparation. Taken together, the documents reveal at least some school division employees were aware that there had been threats of violence against one of the shooting’s victims but allowed him to attend the graduation anyway.
Judge orders Augusta County to turn over closed session recording
An Augusta judge ordered the county to turn over a recording of a closed session meeting of the local Board of Supervisors, saying the board had not complied with state FOIA law requiring public bodies to specify their reason for going into such a session.
The March 20, 2023 meeting was convened to discuss former Supervisor Steven Morelli, who was facing allegations of sexual harassment. Morelli submitted his resignation shortly before the board met. According to the Staunton News-Leader and Augusta Free Press, the board only cited an exemption in FOIA allowing boards to privately discuss personnel matters.
“That statement is too cryptic, is merely a general reference to the subject matter, and does not contain the particularity I believe the statute requires,” wrote Judge Thomas Wilson IV.
The closed session recording was made by Supervisor Scott Seaton and became the center of a long-running controversy once its existence was revealed. The Board of Supervisors subsequently censured Seaton and demanded he turn over the recording.
The Mercury’s efforts to track FOIA and other transparency cases in Virginia are indebted to the work of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government , a nonprofit alliance dedicated to expanding access to government records, meetings and other state and local proceedings.
Hampton changes meeting policy in response to Gloss ruling
After the Supreme Court of Virginia’s ruling in Gloss v. Wheeler last year, Hampton City Council is changing its approach to meetings convened by community groups to limit attendance to only two council members at a time.
Gloss v. Wheeler concerned a May 2020 meeting held by a police citizens’ advisory board in Prince William County following protests over the killing of George Floyd. The Supreme Court of Virginia found that five supervisors’ attendance and participation in the meeting violated FOIA because the gathering had not complied with public meeting requirements laid out in state law.
According to the Virginian-Pilot, “the council plans to set up a calendar and rotation schedule to coordinate which members are attending local meetings to ensure no more than two attend. … If three or more council members plan to attend a meeting, Hampton will have to follow the public notice requirements under the Freedom of Information Act.”
Several bills have been filed in the General Assembly in response to the court’s ruling.
Have you experienced local or state officials denying or delaying your FOIA request? Tell us about it: [email protected]
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