The James City County Board of Supervisors may begin recording closed session meetings following its first meeting in January.
The board is scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. Thursday for an organizational meeting. The first meeting of the year is reserved for setting a board meeting calendar, appointing board members to cover committees, adopting the rules of order and naming a chairman and vice chairman. While the board will consider each of these items, it will also consider enacting a policy requiring closed sessions be recorded.
If the new policy regarding closed sessions is implemented, the board’s chairman or a person designated by the chairman would be responsible for recording the meeting using some kind of recording device, according to county documents. At the beginning of each session, the chairman would call the roll, state the time and date and the code section under which the meeting was called.
Each recording introduction would include information about the subject being discussed, the purpose of the meeting and the reason the meeting was not being held in open session. The board can discuss several items in closed session, including personnel matters, property purchases, prospective business expansions, investments and legal matters.
If approved, the recordings would be archived in the county attorney’s office for at least four months. The board could request the recordings be kept longer. They would also be kept longer if there were a legal reason — such as pending litigation — to maintain the recordings. The recordings, however, may be subject to disclosure under a subpoena or court order.
The recordings would not be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests and would not be provided to the public.
At the board’s Nov. 12 meeting, Stonehouse Supervisor Jim Kennedy, who was named chairman at that meeting, asked the board to reconsider taping closed sessions.
Kennedy’s concerns over closed sessions and the possibility of recording them came to light in July. The board went into a closed session to discuss former County Administrator Robert Middaugh’s performance, but Kennedy said discussion turned to policy, which is not allowed in closed session.
Despite his concerns with the meeting, Kennedy said he did not intend to file a lawsuit over the July meeting. In August, the board members publicly discussed their opinions about what happened in the July closed session, but made no policy decisions at the time.
The board will also consider a resolution allowing Assistant County Administrator Doug Powell and Assistant Treasurer Jennifer Tomes to sign checks on behalf of the county. The policy will also have to be changed to include the next interim or hired county administrator. Currently, Treasurer Ann Davis is the only person authorized to sign checks for the county.
The board will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday in Building F at 101 Mounts Bay Road in the county government complex. Meetings are broadcast live online and on JCC TV 48. Meetings are rebroadcast on Community Channel 46 at 8 a.m., 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. every Thursday. The full meeting agenda is available online.