Themis Essay 5389 Flashcards
Dillon’s Rule limits the legislative power of
local governments, such as a city council or county board of supervisors.
Under Dillon’s Rule, localities, as agencies created by the Commonwealth, have
no inherent power.
Under Dillon’s Rule, all power to a local government must be:
(i) expressly granted by statute or charter;
(ii) necessarily or fairly implied from those expressly granted powers; or
(iii) essential and indispensable to the locality’s declared objectives and purposes.
Any reasonable doubt concerning the existence of power of a local government is resolved by the courts
against the local government.
If no delegation of power from the Commonwealth can be found to authorize a local government’s action, then
it is void.
When a power has been delegated to a local government but the manner of its execution has not been specified, then
the “reasonable selection method” rule applies.
Under the “reasonable selection method” rule, a locality has
reasonable discretion as to the manner in which the power is executed.
Counties generally cannot be
sued in tort.
Counties enjoy sovereign immunity from all tort liability for all activities of their
officers, agents, and employees, even when the county is acting in a proprietary capacity.
A plaintiff may sue a county in an inverse condemnation action for compensation for property wrongfully damaged or taken when
a tort is committed that involves damage to or the taking of property.
The governing body of a local government may generally exercise any of the powers conferred upon it at
any meeting of the governing body at which a quorum is present.
A majority of the governing body constitutes a
quorum.
Virginia law generally requires that all meetings of a public body must be
open.
Virginia generally prohibits a meeting from being conducted or votes being cast through
telephonic, video, or other electronic communication means where members are not physically assembled to discuss or transact public business.
A local government’s public body may only hold a vote during
an open meeting in accordance with Virginia law.
No public body can vote by
secret or written ballot.
Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act guarantees access to public records maintained by a public body to
Virginia citizens and media representatives.
There is a presumption that all public records are open, unless
an exemption is properly invoked.
Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act provisions are to be liberally construed to afford
every opportunity to citizens to witness the operations of government.
There is an exemption to Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act for information about
negotiations and awards of specific contracts where competition or bargaining is involved and releasing such information would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body.
There is no Freedom of Information Act exemption for
an actual contract itself.
The custodian of a public record has ___________ _______________ days in which to respond to a Freedom of Information request.
five working days
For a requested record through the Freedom of Information Act, a public body may impose
reasonable charges not to exceed the actual cost incurred to produce the record.
