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Supervisor urges written legal analysis and FOIA policy before closed sessions; presents groundwater protection ordinance
Summary
A supervisor asked the county attorney to produce a written statutory analysis and urged the board to adopt a clear FOIA policy before holding closed sessions to discuss ordinances; the board then heard a presentation on a proposed Groundwater Protection Ordinance that would prohibit new industrial groundwater withdrawals while exempting residential and agricultural wells.
During the Oct. 14 Warren County working session, a board supervisor made a public procedural statement asking the county attorney to provide a comprehensive written statutory analysis of a proposed Groundwater Protection Ordinance and asked the board to adopt a policy clarifying when closed sessions are permissible under Virginia's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The supervisor reasoned that FOIA narrowly limits closed sessions and said prior closed-session requests this year were questionable under the statute.
After the FOIA discussion, the same supervisor presented a proposed Groundwater Protection Ordinance and a slide-based briefing arguing Warren County’s groundwater is stressed and that industrial users — in particular data centers — can consume vastly more water than households. The ordinance presented would prohibit new industrial groundwater withdrawals (while allowing industrial development that uses municipal water), exempt residential and agricultural…
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