Open Session Slated For Court Debate

When the Fredericksburg City Council convenes next week in a work session, they will have a delicate task before them: how to discuss aspects of eight proposals for a new city court facility in an open session without divulging currently confidential aspects of the plans. 

While many aspects of the eight plans have been made public in documents released so far during the proceedings surrounding the proposed new court facilities, a number of details remain confidential. Information breaking down the costs of the proposals into their individual components, as well as details about any pending litigation against members of the design build teams and financial reports for the companies are among some of the details which have remained confidential so far in the deliberations. Also confidential is an analysis of the eight schemes prepared by the consulting firm Arcadis. 

The reasoning goes that the as it prepares to enter into final negotiations with a soon-to-be-determined short list of court facility concepts. 

So, with all those details remaining out of the public eye, for now, how can city officials have a discussion about the concepts without betraying their hand.

According to City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, there are still larger "public policy questions" surrounding the proposed court facilities which can be safely discussed in open session. 

Dooley says that the City Council members can discuss things like a preferred location for the facility or a design preference without going into confidential details.

"I don't think it will be necessary to talk about confidential aspects," said Vice Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw in an interview. " We have certain key decisions to make like location, size and mass, like whether the court should all be in one complex or divided up. There are certain broad parameters which need to be decided before we can narrow down the proposals."

And if the discussions threaten to stray into confidential territory? Dooley says that's what closed sessions are for.  

"If there are further discussions which go into the confidential aspects of the applications, then we will try to have those in closed session," said Dooley.

The work session follows this week's public hearing on the proposed court schemes which saw a mixed group of 18 speakers offer their opinions on the new court facility schemes.