Council Tours Spotsy Courts

You can't too easily kick the tires on a multi-million dollar courthouse which hasn't been built yet. So on Wednesday, the Fredericksburg City Council did the next best thing and went to Spotsylvania County to take a look at the new digs for that county's court, designed by the same team of architects which will likely be in designing Fredericksburg's new court facility, Moseley Architects.

The tour was led by David Breedin, a Spotsylvania County employee who oversaw the construction of the new court facility. Along for the excursion were three members of the City Council – Vice Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, At-Large Councilor Kerry Devine and Ward Three Councilor Fred Howe – as well as members of the city attorney's office, the Department of Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities and the Fredericksburg Sheriff's Office. They were all visibly impressed. 

"We're particularly interested in the layout of the interior, how it functions and the finishing touches," said City Manager Beverly Cameron.

Howe was impressed by the facility, despite being a vocal critic of the proposal to build a new court facility in downtown Fredericksburg. 

"There are a lot of good points that we see here," said Howe, noting some of the high tech features of the Spotsylvania County Courthouse.

The new Spotsylvania County Courthouse cost $21.9 million and includes three courtrooms equipped with advanced security and audio visual features. At 60,000 square feet, it is more than three times the space available at their old courthouse. 

In addition to the three courtrooms, the building also features secured staff areas and jury deliberation rooms. One of the courtrooms has a windowed, soundproof room for disruptive defendants, allowing them to view their trial as loudly as possible without disturbing anyone. 

There is also a separate area for underage or otherwise vulnerable witnesses to be able to give testimony without having to be in the physical presence of the defendant. Their testimony can be piped into the courtroom through the audio-visual system and projected on a large, motorized drop screen. 

The facility also features four mediation rooms and an area where attorney's can meet with imprisoned clients. One of the four mediation rooms can be remodeled into a courtroom if the need arises in the future. 

Breedin, to close observers of the City Council, may have seemed an odd choice to lead the tour. During a public hearing on the city's proposed court facility on May 18, Breedin is himself a resident of Fredericksburg.

On Wednesday, he struck a more accepting tone.

"I think it's great. I've had an opportunity to work with Moseley and I think We're getting a great team," said Breedin in an interview. 

The proposed Fredericksburg court facility, put forth by a design/build consortium headed up by First Choice Public-Private Partners, will be a four story, 78,500-square-feet building on Princess Anne Street. It will house the Sheriff's Department, courthouse administrative offices, prisoner holding ares, clerks offices, and three courtrooms (two for the Circuit Court and one for the General District Court) with an option to expand to four in the future. The First Choice proposal also calls for the renovation of the existing General District Court into the home of the new Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. 

After the tour, Howe still took time to criticize the cost of the proposed court facility and

"My question is…if they can do it for $25 million, why are we doing it for $40 million?" Asked Howe. "We are not what I would call a prosperous city where we can afford to not pay attention to what's happening to the economy."

Photography Restricted During Open Meeting

The tour appears to have run afoul of Virginia's Freedom of Information Act.

Wednesday's tour had been advertised as a work session of the City Council, and three of its members were in attendance, making it an open public meeting according to Virginia's Freedom of Information Act. 

Normally, for security reasons, photography in a courthouse is prohibited in Virginia. But when a governing body meets in open session, Virginia's FOIA law prohibits restrictions on cameras and other recording devices. Section 2.2-3707 of the Code of Virginia states that governing bodies shall not prohibit or otherwise prevent any person from photographing, filming, recording or otherwise reproducing any portion of a meeting required to be open and that no public body shall conduct a meeting required to be open in any building or facility where such recording devices are prohibited."

I arrived late to the meeting after the tour group had already begun. Upon arrival, and toting a camera around my neck, Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Deputies were reluctant to admit me into the courthouse, and I was asked to provide press credentials before being admitted. I protested, and the deputies relented. Upon catching up with the tour group inside one of the courtrooms, I shot four photographs inside the courtroom and jury deliberation room before being noticed by Breedin. 

Breedin objected and said that no photography of the courtrooms, jury areas and staff offices was allowed, citing security concerns. I asserted that this was an open meeting of the Fredeicksburg City Council and that I was within my rights to document the meeting. City Attorney Kathleen Dooley stepped in to inform Breedin of the FOIA obligation.

Breedin insisted on the photography ban, and offered to take the meeting to the lobby or outside where photography was permitted. At-Large Councilor Kerry Devine floated the idea of having two members of City Council step away from the tour so that the group would no longer meet the legal definition of a public meeting. 

Not wanting to interfere with the meeting, I offered to turn my camera off and keep it at my side until the tour had cleared the secure areas. Breedin accepted this offer and the tour continued. 

The incident calls to mind a similar situation back in January where recording devices were not allowed into a City Council work session to meet with Judge Gordon F. Willis over the court facility issue in his courtroom. of local journalists. Members of the City Council as well as Judge Willis said at the time that they did not realize the ban on recording devices in the courtroom was against the law.