May 2023

Contents

Co-President's Message

Annual Meeting Notes

Report: Lynchburg Adult Drug Treatment Court

Report: Electoral Board

Report: City Council

Call to Action: State Electoral Board

Announcement: Memorial Service for Carla Heath

Co-Presidents' Message

Hello Everyone, and Happy Spring!

As you will see from the recap below, the Annual Meeting was a huge success. Thanks to all who helped organize and to those of you who were able to attend. We have a lot of new members, which is great! A special thank you to David Neumeyer for being our guest speaker.

This month Jennifer Woofter will be resigning her position as co-president, and on July 1, we are pleased to welcome our new co-president, Bethanie Mickles. Additionally, Dr. Muriel Mickles will be joining the Board as Vice President. I am excited to work with both of them this year.

The Board will be regrouping over the summer, and we look forward to seeing you at our events in the fall.

Thank you for your ongoing support of the League of Women Voters Lynchburg, and have a great summer.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Gauthier, Co-President LWVLY

Annual Meeting Notes

On Monday, May 15, more than 30 members of LWVLY and their guests gathered at the Drysdale Student Center on the campus of the University of Lynchburg for our Annual Meeting. The event included dinner, drinks, and guest speaker David Neumeyer.

Neumeyer's discussion began with a brief overview of important women leaders in Lynchburg's suffrage movement and political landscape. His remarks also included reflections on his current role as Executive Director of the Virginia Legal Aid Society. Much of the evening's discussion, however, focused on recent events at the local Electoral Board meetings. Our Electoral Board observers have seen and reported the same irregularities Neumeyer--a previous member of the Electoral Board and current Chair--described. Neumeyer encouraged LWVLY members to bring these issues to the attention of the State Board of Elections. Later in this newsletter we have included contact information for the State Board of Elections and a template for a letter outlining the irregularities. Neumeyer answered many questions from LWVLY members, resulting in an informative and engaging discussion.

In the business portion of the evening, Co-President Jennifer Woofter read the minutes from last year's Annual Meeting. After taking nominations from the floor for the position of Vice-President, membership voted unanimously to approve the new LWVLY Board slate, including Dr. Murial Mickles in the role of Vice-President. Dr. Mickles is a former counselor and higher education professional, working most recently as the Vice President of Academics, Students, and Workforce Development at Central Virginia Community and Technical College. We look forward to her leadership in LWVLY! Members also discussed who would chair the Voters Service Committee, and Michael Bremer stepped forward to take on this role. Members were unable to discuss and approve the annual budget before the evening concluded, so please look for an email in the week ahead with information on the budget, an opportunity to make comments on it, and then instructions for voting to approve it.

Thank you all members who helped make the evening a success!

Submitted by Crystal Howell

Reports

Lynchburg Adult Drug Treatment Court

On May 24, Drug Court was packed with events. Two people from the state were present to conduct an evaluation of the court. They attended the precourt meeting (held before the court session to discuss the individual participants), the court session itself, and then a meeting after Drug Court was dismissed. I will let you know the results when I learn of them.

Many participants had much to be proud: one person graduated to much applause; one moved from Phase IV to V (the last phase); two moved from Phase III to IV; two from Phase I to II; three received Certificates from the peer specialist; and five were not present because their phase requires attendance only once a month. Two participants are in a treatment facility; several others are making good progress. 

But one participant had fled from the last Drug Court before he could be given his sanctions. He came straight from jail, dressed in orange. His bail was rewritten so that the courts could give him a ride to his 30-day treatment facility. A potential participant also came from jail, in orange.  He has other legal matters to be sorted out and then he will be given a choice of participating in Drug Court or not. 

The Graduation Ceremony has been postponed until more graduates can participate.

LWVLY received a gracious thank you note from Judge J. Frederick Watson and Taylor Jones, the Drug Court Program Director, for our donation. You can read the note here.

Submitted by Molly McClenon

Electoral Board Meeting

This report concerns the meeting held on May 2, 2023 at 4pm 

Again the Electoral Board meeting was standing room only with observers.

After the meeting was called to order, we stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. Those sitting at the table were asked to introduce themselves, so I was pleased to say my name and LWVLY. A draft of the updated Rules of Procedure for the EB was introduced.

Budget proposal for city could see a 30% reduction in early voting staff and training for officers of election, so the board voted 3-0 to send a response letter to the city manager.

A motion by Chair David Neumeyer raised in closed session was brought to vote in open session. The motion was to suspend the search for a registrar as per the city attorney’s advisement and follow the normal protocol of evaluation in mid-July. There should be good cause to allow the application at this time. Neumeyer voted yes, Gibbs and Troxel no.

The Registrar's Office requested the EB to edit the application for appointment for accessibility of EB members. Secretary Gibbs has taken applications home or brought her computer to the office and copied personal info. The request is to assure that secure email procedures when transmitting personnel documents are followed according to 24.2-115. The request was tabled with the vote 3-0.

3-0 votes to table: Review, Edit, Approval of Computer Systems Security Program Document and Electoral Board Manual.

Extremely impassioned comments were given during the public session. Partisan actions of the majority of EB members were likened to the national trend to infringe on rights of and access to voters.

Although this report does not reflect all the business of the meeting, I want to communicate that in my opinion the atmosphere in the meetings is filled with dissension, dissatisfaction and distrust.

Respectfully Submitted by Sandy Knodel

City Council Meeting

Observations from the City Council Work Session and the City Council Meeting (May 23, 2023)

At the May 23 work session, council members discussed the proposed curfew which was described as another tool in the tool box to help keep those under 18 safe from becoming a perpetrator or a victim of a crime.  Both Police Chief Ryan Zuidema and Commonwealth's Attorney Bethany Harrison were present and answered questions. The City Attorney suggested a change to clarify First Amendment Rights. Everything seemed to be a go. Council members wanted the curfew to be in place before the last day of school, so they agreed, by consensus, to add it to that evening's agenda. 

The council meeting began 1-2 hours later. The curfew was the last item on the agenda. The discussion began about 10:30pm. Vice Mayor Faraldi announced that he would vote against it because the problem was violent criminals and the need was to get them off the streets, locked up in jail and behind bars. The discussion which followed was hard for me to follow. Soon the mayor called for a vote and everyone, including Faraldi, voted in favor of the curfew. This was a change of the opinion he expressed during the work session and the city council discussion.

On a similar note, Council members have spent many meetings and many hours discussing the proposed budget. The second (and presumably the last) reading was held May 23. The General Budget passed with no discussion, but the Capital Improvement Plan was met with hostile questions, even though it had been presented each time the General Budget was discussed. Council Member Misjuns raised questions about the LCS's long-range planning and school consolidations. The vote was 4 rejecting the CIP and 3 in favor.  Thus, there is no budget because the law requires the budget to be balanced.  The CIP details will be presented once again at the June 13 work session. They need to finalize a balanced budget at the June 27 meeting; a balanced budget must be approved by July 1st or we will illegally enter fiscal year 2024 without a budget.

Council Member Misjuns presented a slide show about the LCS budget, which was adopted.

For the future well-being of our city and its citizens, it is important that people who care about good government and good governance pay close attention to what is happening locally. Remember that City Council work sessions and meeting are open to citizens and happen on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. More information can be found at https://www.lynchburgva.gov/city-council.

Respectfully Submitted by Molly McClenon

Call to Action: Letters to the State Board of Elections

Recent reports from Electoral Board observers and remarks from David Neumeyer at the Annual Meeting have brought to light numerous irregularities in Electoral Board activities, particularly on the part of member Betty Gibbs. If you are also concerned about these irregularities, you can email the State Board of Elections to direct the Lynchburg Circuit Court judges to investigate the Electoral Board for unethical conduct. Below is a sample email that discusses Gibbs's abuses to date. You can use this email as a template or compose your own email. Please send your email to Franchelle Tyson (franchelle.tyson@elections.virginia.gov). You can also show support by attending the next Electoral Board public meeting at 4:00pm, City Council Chambers at City Hall on June 1.

Dear Chairman O'Bannon and Members of the Board,

I write as a concerned citizen to draw the State Board of Elections attention to a matter of concern in Lynchburg, VA. The current Electoral Board is acting against state law in seeking to replace our current Registrar for partisan reasons. I believe that the two members of the Electoral Board, Betty Gibbs and Steve Troxel, are not acting in an impartial manner and am concerned about the integrity of our election process.

1) The Electoral Board seeks to replace our current Registrar, Christine Gibbons, at the end of her term this June. Two members of the board, Betty Gibbs and Steve Troxel, erroneously believe that they are required to open up the application process. Ms. Gibbons has been forced to reapply for her job.

2) The City Attorney disagrees, stating that the proper procedure would be to reappoint the Registrar and then evaluate the Registrar in July.
 

3) The two members of the Electoral Board noted above are therefore in violation of state law.

4) Betty Gibbs in particular has also been problematic in other ways--she is abusive to staff and oversteps her bounds as a board member. For example, she regularly takes home election officer personnel information which should remain in the office and has transferred this information to her personal computer. She has also declared on social media that "the swamped will be drained once the Electoral Board, Registrar, and Deputy Registrar are removed." This makes one question her impartiality.

5) In light of the above, I ask that the State Board of Elections direct the Lynchburg Circuit Court judges to investigate and remove Lynchburg Electoral Board member Betty Gibbs for unethical conduct.

Sincerely,

Your Name

Memorial Service for Carla Heath

Remember, to see photos from our recent events, be sure to visit the LWVLY Facebook page.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization encouraging the informed and active participation of citizens in government. It influences public policy through education and advocacy. We never support or oppose any political party or candidate.