The Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville-based civil liberties nonprofit organization with conservative leanings, sent a letter to the Charlottesville City Council and the Albemarle Country Board of Supervisors condemning the governing bodies for holding "closed, secret meetings on matters of public interest." The letter said the meetings violated Virginia's Freedom of Information Act as well as the constitutional principles of democracy, such as "an informed electorate and maximum transparency of government."
Members of the governing bodies met to discuss ways to cut costs by combining services provided by each government.
The complicated nature of these issues prompted the closed discussions, Dennis Rooker, a member of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors said, because "the meetings have a greater chance of success if people can speak candidly."
He also denied the legal validity of the group's accusations. "[The Freedom of Information Act] simply did not apply to that meeting [because] the members of the Board of Supervisors who participated in the meeting were not selected by the Board."
John Whitehead, founder and president of the Rutherford Institute attacked the bodies for intentionally choosing a limited format and thereby "circumventing public scrutiny and press coverage," the letter said.
But Rooker maintains that pertaining to all of the meetings he attended, the date, time, subject matter and place of the meeting were disclosed to the press and anyone else who inquired.
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