County cannot charge flat fee to review records because it is not true cost

Unfortunately, many local governments think they are exempt from the state laws which set the rules on how they may function. This happens in many areas of government.

Depending on the arrogance and ego of the officials involved, the effort to fix such problems can range from a friendly “here’s what you are doing wrong” conversation all the way up to legal action to force them to comply with state law.

Some state laws have been so widely abused in the past that they have provisions that allow the courts to award the plaintiffs their costs and attorney’s fees after they win. (See the Code of Virginia § 15.2-915 Section C for an example, which was just added last year.)

I have no idea what it will take in this case, but I urge you to keep this story in the public eye. I have very little tolerance for public servants who lose sight of who their real bosses are, and who think they are above the law.

You would bring up the subject of FOIA. Try getting some feed back from Mr. Hill and our Education Board.

There is the Southern Fried Freedom of Information Act, that only serves to obfuscate or the FOIA we have come to rely on when the truth is at stake.

Spotsylvania County’s Ernie Pennington is in charge of all things associated with FOIA. I can remember asking for my Code Compliance file that was kept on our real property by Lewis Watts and the Department of Code Compliance.

The County could supply basic details but not their privileged information County Attorney deemed beyond public inspection, including me.

What this information cost is really of no relevance. What matters is that the good stuff is hidden from the public, and Judge David H. Beck will tell you so.

How much does the truth cost? A lot more than Dr. Hill and the Spotsylvania County’s Board of Education ever thought possible; $20,000+. And, that doesn’t include the cost of copying the record, or more precisely, part of a record that wouldn’t even get you to first base.

The cost and value of the FOIA is not found in photocopy expenses. It’s the cost and value of the information that will never make the light of day.

My reference was to a general disregard for state laws that govern the actions of cities and counties, not the one specific example given in your post.

It is interesting to note that the city Clerk of the Court office also charges 50 cents per page to print or copy court records. It might be interesting to see what the Clerk’s reaction would be to reading the nitty gritty of the law.

I live in the city, and I rarely interact with anyone in Spotsylvania, so I don’t know of any. As I noted in my first post, one of the most often abused laws is the firearms preemption law, which prohibits localities from enacting their own rules concerning firearms. Many locations refused to remove their illegal laws from the books so the GA added some bite to the law by exposing the localities to potential liability to cover court costs and expenses of those doing the suing.

I have read that this also sometimes spills over to the CHP application process, with some locations requiring additional paperwork to be submitted, which is also against the law.

Almost always these things can be resolved once you point out to those involved that they are literally in violation of the law, but as noted, sometimes it seems they don’t care.

Whether anyone of nobel intentions or their subordinates are violating the law is nothing more than a rebuttable presumption, soon to be lost in another idle conversation that rises only to the levels of communication protocols that are best defined by more polite conversation.

The preemptive strike is something only those in power can weild to their satisfaction, not yours.
Just how big is your stick? If it’s just words of indignation, pointing fingers, and waiving banners about how WE are being treated by THEM, you will always be in the tall grass and without a compass to direct you where you want to go, but can’t, for want of a level playing field and surrounded by walls intended to keep you out of the hair of those WE chose to rule US.

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness do not exist on this playing field. In our very small way, we will continue to cry out, and shout out our concerns from the bleachers, while those of nobel intentions play the game, and officiated by those running from one end of the field with blinders on.

Maybe TP should get out more and mingle with the masses outside the boundaries of Fredericksburg. Not much difference from one boundary line to the next, but at least there is a little more room to breath, and collect our next thought and throw it at the same wall, to see if it sticks or just falls to the ground without much more notice than it takes to read this blog, and move on to the next.

Until we put FOIA text where it belongs, WE will always be paying 50 cents a page, and more, because we’ll never know the difference.

So, what really costs 3 cents per page in ink, only makes me wonder where the other 47 cents went or goes toward, in violation of a law, no one really cares about, understands, or has the time to even put 5 minutes aside in their day, to even inquire about what’s legal and what’s not.

It’s the stuff that defines US and THEM, without question or debate.