Seaton highlights costs of Augusta County supervisors FOIA lawsuit, attempts to stop appeal
VERONA – Supervisor Scott Seaton wants the public to know how much ‘this crap’ is costing the taxpayers.
In January, the Augusta Board of Supervisors voted to appeal a circuit court case it lost earlier that month. The appeal will prevent, at least temporarily, the recording of the supervisor’s March 20 closed session from being released to the public.
Seaton, who took the recording and voted against the appeal last month, requested financial information about the case from county staff before the board voted to appeal the decision.
So far, the county has spent $5,976 on “outside counsel” for the FOIA lawsuits, with another $40,000 currently in this year’s budget, according to Seaton. Seaton requested the information in late January.
“The county attorney and the assistant county attorney combined are paid over a quarter of a million dollars besides their benefits,” Seaton asked the board. “Why are we paying for outside council for a simple FOIA case, to defend a closed meeting that was ruled illegal by a circuit court judge according to the recent Virginia Supreme Court precedents?”
Seaton is referring to Cole V. Smyth, a similar Virginia Supreme Court Case decided in 2020. The case requires governments to state the reason they were entering closed session; it was not enough to cite a statutory exemption alone when going into closed session.
In his Jan. 17 opinion on the Augusta FOIA case, Judge Thomas Wilson IV referenced the case, saying, “The county simply listed one of the subject matters as ‘board of supervisors.’ 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.”
Seaton asked County Attorney James Benkahla how likely it was the appeal would succeed in overturning the Cole decision, keeping the recording out of the public’s hands. Benkahla was not certain.
“We should not spend money on a possibility, or I don’t know,” Seaton responded. “Above all, we should not spend money on a ruling that only benefits the board and not the taxpayers. This appeal only benefits the board.”
The next court up is the Virginia Court of Appeals, an intermediate court between the local circuit courts and the Virginia Supreme Court, where the Cole decision was settled.
Seaton moved that the supervisors abandon the appeal. The motion was not seconded, and failed in a five to one vote, with Seaton voting in favor and Supervisor Gerald Garber absent.
Although the specifics of what’s in the recording aren’t expected to come to light unless it is released, testimony in hearings for this case confirmed the discussion was centered around former supervisor Steven Morelli.
Before the January vote, Supervisor Gerald Garber said he would defend his position on the appeal to the county voters, saying, “I’ll tell you how I’d sell it to my district — this is how this started and this is what this crap is costing us.”
The circuit court case is expected to have one final hearing on Feb 28. The judge is expected to enter the final order and consider if the county should pay for Breaking Through’s attorney costs. The county’s appeal has not yet been filed as of Thursday, Feb. 15.
Lyra Bordelon (she/her) is the public transparency and justice reporter at The News Leader. Do you have a story tip or feedback? It’s welcome through email to lbordelon@gannett.com. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.
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This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Seaton highlights costs of Augusta County supervisors FOIA lawsuit, attempts to stop appeal
