Transparency, responsiveness and the county supervisors

OUR OPINION
Published: March 9, 2008

Government serves the people and, as such, should be responsible for being transparent in its actions.

Recently, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors went into a closed meeting, an action that was challenged by this newspaper.

We believed the reasons given by the supervisors did not meet the requirements of Virginia’s Freedom of Information laws. Even though the board chose to dismiss our challenge, in the end, some supervisors took our concerns seriously and we commend them for their response.

At the end of Tuesday’s Board of County Supervisors meeting, the board went into closed session, citing the FOIA exemption that allows local governments the right to discuss “actual or probable litigation” or to consult with “legal counsel ... regarding specific legal matters,” behind closed doors.

The supervisors wanted to discuss the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority court case. Prince William County is represented on the NVTA.

The Virginia Supreme Court recently ruled the taxing authority of the NVTA unconstitutional.

Our newspaper argued that the closed session was out of bounds because litigation regarding the NVTA case had already been resolved.

A reporter from this paper contacted some of the supervisors and the county attorney after all of this occurred

Supervisors Martin Nohe, Maureen Caddigan and Chairman Corey Stewart responded.

All three of these supervisors were interested in clarifying what had happened and seemed genuinely concerned with showing they had acted properly.

We maintain that it was proper for us to challenge the closed session. It is our responsibility to ensure that the government is adhering to the rules and acting properly.

We are happy that most of the supervisors seem to respect this.

When it comes to transparency in local government, the rule should be to err on the side of showing your hand. This isn’t poker, but if local government tries to bluff, we will call them on it.