King George Supervisors' Proposed Legislative Priorities Include Request to Revisit Public Meeting Rules
Request is to “eliminate restrictions on the Board of Supervisors' meeting capabilities."
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The King George Board of Supervisors is considering asking the General Assembly to revisit its rules governing open meeting requirements for public bodies.
Among the board’s legislative priorities for the upcoming General Assembly session is a request to “eliminate restrictions on the Board of Supervisors' meeting capabilities,” according to a resolution that’s on the agenda for approval at tonight’s meeting.
County Administrator Matthew Smolnik summarized the board’s request, along with other legislative priorities, at the December 3 supervisors’ meeting.
“Any time you have three or more board members getting together, we have to advertise [it as a public meeting],” Smolnik said. “[Board members] cannot communicate over email. These are regulations that are pushed down from the state, and this is on the list [for legislators] to take a look at this.”
Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act, detailed in Chapter 37 of the Code of Virginia, outlines the law as it pertains to meetings of state and local public bodies.
The law’s definition of a public meeting, found in section 2.2-3701, includes both regular meetings and work sessions of the public body and “informal assemblage[s]” of “as many as three members” or “a quorum, if less than three, of the constituent membership.”
Such informal gatherings of members of a public body are considered public meetings “wherever held, with or without minutes being taken, whether or not votes are cast.”
Section 2.2-3707 of the FOIA chapter states that “all meetings of public bodies shall be open” and that public bodies “shall give notice of the date, time, location, and remote location, if required, of its meetings” on its public website, in a prominent public location, and at the office of the public body’s clerk.
The same section also states that, “No meeting shall be conducted through telephonic, video, electronic, or other electronic communication means where the members are not physically assembled to discuss or transact public business.”
In the 2004 case Beck v. Shelton, the Supreme Court of Virginia found that email communication between members of a public body does not necessarily constitute a public meeting unless the communication occurs simultaneously.
At the top of the board’s other legislative priorities is water conservation. The resolution proposed for approval tonight states that “State funding is urgent, particularly for regions east of I-95, which need alternative water supplies that rely on surface water.”
The resolution asks legislators to “to urge the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to conduct a comprehensive review of the procedures and timelines associated with obtaining surface water withdrawal permits.”
Also, the resolution includes a request that the Virginia Department of Transportation “engage in discussions with King George County” regarding the promotion of U.S. 301 as an alternative to Interstate 95.
“This has been a big push from VDOT to keep people skirting the Fredericksburg and D.C. area and what that leads to is congestion and safety issues for our citizens,” Smolnik said on December 3. “So, what are the options available to discourage through traffic?”
Another traffic-related priority for the Board is for state funds to continue to support localities that choose not to be part of regional transportation authorities. King George, along with Spotsylvania and Stafford, recently voted to opt out of such a regional transportation authority.
“Furthermore, localities should be granted more authority over VDOT land use regulations to better align with their needs,” the resolution states.
The resolution asks legislators to implement suggestions from the 2023 Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee’s report on Virginia’s K-12 school funding formula, “to improve K-12 funding methods and support school financing initiatives.
It asks legislators to “address financial burdens placed on local governments” through matching grant requirements and to “review the criteria for localities to qualify for state grants.”
Smolnik said on December 3 that King George County has a high median income, which “kicks us out of [eligibility for state] grants.” The resolution asks legislators to ensure that “median income is not the sole determining factor” for qualification.
Finally, the resolution asks legislators to “establish constitutional carry laws [and] uphold [Virginia’s] status as a right-to-work state.”
Board of Supervisors Chair T.C. Collins on December 3 summarized the legislative priorities by saying, “Basically, we want to keep the rights of the county to be decided upon by the county and not have the state control us.”
Smolnik said he would distribute the board’s legislative priorities to its General Assembly representatives—Delegate Hillary Pugh Kent and Senator Richard Stuart.
Stuart has also served as interim county attorney for King George since January of this year.
This story has been updated to clarify when email communication between members of a public body might be considered a public meeting.
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