The Mirror recently emailed a series of questions to a member of the Northampton County Board of Supervisors, and after not receiving a response after several days, attempted to contact them again. We were told that they never received the email, however we checked our logs and the email was sent and delivered. We found out later that while we sent the correspondence to the official county email, that account was only checked once in a while. Most of the county business was occurring via the supervisor’s personal email account.
While it is perfectly legal to use a personal email account, it would seem that the BoS has official accounts for a reason, and that they should be used to conduct all county business. In an off the record exchange, one former supervisor told the Mirror that this practice was unusual, and while they served on the board, the protocol to use official email was defined and hammered home on numerous occasions.
As citizens, we have the right to know what our government is doing, and having an official government email address is important from an accountability standpoint.
Local public bodies are subject to Freedom of Information laws so that government records, even emails sent from a private system, must be made available upon request when they relate to public business.
The email below clearly shows Board Chairman Spencer Murray using his personal email for county business:
While a private email account can be managed without issue, if proper records management protocols are not in place, this could become an issue. Whether all personal emails make it into the public record is questionable. The use of personal email could create a misperception about the motives of the government official.
For many in the county, one of the major sticking points over the 2015 zoning ordinance was a lack of transparency. Using personal email accounts to conduct official county business hardly seems to promote open government, transparency and accountability.
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This email exemplifies the high degree of crookedness that is present within the Northampton County Virginia municipality.
The hospital that is now closed in Nassawadox was put out business by policies that Spencer Murray helped to create, support, and implement – Yet he was re-elected to the BOS.
The fact that this man was re-elected to the BOS after his policies destroyed the economy in Northampton County is more than a travesty.
Every one of those public meetings that are held by the elected officials of Northampton County Virginia are fully scripted, they all know what there going to say and how each other is going to vote.
What this really come downs to is the high degree of corruption within the local legal system on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and more specifically within the current legal counsel of the Northampton County BOS.
We need vote all of the current elected officials of Northampton Virginia of office and/or collectively request there resignations.
These current elected officials believe that the people of Northampton County are unable to intellectualize the game.
VOTE THEM OUT THIS NOVEMBER!!! ENACT TERM LIMITS FOR LOCALLY ELECTED OFFICIALS!!!
The bos tried to keep the hospital here,even with richmond lawsuit…but it was a DAvid and Goliath thing..Do you come to the Board meetings? If you do , you know that everyone is welcomed at the end of the business meeting to speak for two minutes on any subject..not being limited to the business previously discussed at the meeting..If you have not availed yourself of this opportunity, you should ….and then the public can hear what you have to say ..as well as the responses of others after hearing your comments..This is transparency and is a big change from previously..You are still allowed to speak on the topics of the evening when there is a public comment period.. Do this at the B
OS meetings. We are all interested in what others have to say..and I am sure the board is also..vs. sly comments and condemnation as in the email above..thanks..hope to see y ou there..Who are you? You didn’t “own” your comments..Let us hear from you. Thanks..sandra beerends
All of the efforts to ‘save’ the hospital in Northampton County VA were made after Spencer Murray and crew enacted polices that made it economically impractical for the hospital to build it’s new facility in Nassawadox.
The hair-brained zoning ordinance that was implemented in 2009 by these elected officials caused Northampton County to deteriorate to such a degree it may never recover. This is especially true if these same individuals remain in office.
I tend to agree with the basic theory that public business should be conducted out in the open; using County e-mails is part of that system. However, the e-mail message selected is not the best example inasmuch as it is sent to other public officials at their respective public e-mail addresses. I would not for a moment under these circumstances find any intent to do business in a secret atmosphere, but would tend to think it was used a mere convenience.