Special Prosecutor Clears Franklin County Officials in Freedom of Information Act Probe

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 Actpresumes 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.

A special prosecutor has concluded that several Franklin County officials committed no criminal conduct or violations of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act following an investigation prompted by complaints from county residents, WDJB reported last week.

Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Bethany Harrison was appointed to investigate the allegations to avoid a conflict of interest. The complaints involved Board of Supervisors Chair Lorie Smith, Vice Chair Nick Mitchell and County Administrator Steven Sandy.

After reviewing the allegations, exhibits, Virginia law, court decisions and publicly available county records, Harrison determined “the information presented did not provide sufficient evidence of criminal violations by Chair Smith, Vice Chair Mitchell or County Administrator Sandy.”

She also found insufficient evidence to request a Virginia State Police criminal investigation.

The complaints cited emails obtained through FOIA requests showing Smith polling supervisors about how they intended to vote on several budget items, which complainants argued violated Virginia’s Open Meetings Act.

Other emails showed Sandy communicating with Smith and Mitchell about items to be placed on meeting agendas. The complaint alleged the officials sidelined other supervisors, including by suppressing a proposed solar development moratorium Supervisor Dan Quinn wanted brought to a vote.

Sandy criticized the allegations and their public release before the investigation was completed.

“I am grateful that this investigation has found no merit to the claims,” Sandy said.

Smith said Harrison’s findings represented “the beginning of the truth coming to light after more than a year of factual inaccuracies and baseless allegations.”

Mitchell also criticized the complaints, saying they had cost the county staff time and taxpayer dollars.

County Attorney Jim Guynn said residents have a right to question government decisions, criticize elected officials and seek public records, but said those rights do not justify “a sustained campaign of unsupported accusations, personal attacks, intimidation, or efforts to damage the reputation and personal well-being of public officials and employees.”

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.

Email the Franklin County Board of Supervisors:
Mike Carter, Mike.Carter@franklincountyva.gov,
Marshall Jamison, Marshall.Jamison@franklincountyva.gov,
Mike Meredith, mike.meredith@franklincountyva.gov,
Nick Mitchell, Nick.Mitchell@franklincountyva.gov,
Dan Quinn, dan.quinn@franklincountyva.gov,
Lorie Smith, Lorie.Smith@franklincountyva.gov,
Tim Tatum, tim.tatum@franklincountyva.gov,