Council, media find Richmond City Hall is generally more open under Jones

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones took control of City Hall in January, promising an era of openness in the administration's dealings with the City Council and reporters.

"I'm going to take the muzzle off," he said, referring to employees who feared a backlash from Mayor L. Douglas Wilder if they spoke to council members or the news media.

Nearly five months later, much of the tension and edge in City Hall has abated. The administration is preparing to loosen its policy on employee interactions with reporters. But at the same time, access to Richmond police officials has been more elusive than it was under Wilder.

City Council members say their questions now get answered, and they speak regularly of meetings with Jones and his chief of staff, Suzette P. Denslow.

"From my perspective, I'm getting all the information I need," Council President Kathy C. Graziano said. "I can call department heads. I can call the mayor. . . . It's much improved."

Graziano said that when Wilder was mayor, she was able to talk unofficially to some department directors, but they avoided using their office phones and spoke only because they knew the conversations would be kept secret.

"I feel the lines of communication need to be open, because we're all together on this," Graziano said.

None of Richmond's surrounding counties has policies that address who can speak to the news media, and reporters generally have access to high-ranking officials.

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For reporters, Richmond's City Hall has taken on a greater degree of openness, but it's spotty and clearly a work in progress.

Employees "are still trying to get their footing with how to interact with the new administration, and it's starting to take root," press secretary Tammy D. Hawley said. "Some move more cautiously than others."

Under the prior administration, reporters' questions almost always were funneled through Wilder's press secretary, Linwood Norman, who frequently did not respond or offered little more than "no comment."

In at least one instance, a city employee acknowledged that she had gotten into trouble after speaking to the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 2006 outside of the Wilder administration's media-relations policy.

An amendment to that policy now awaits Jones' signature. The new regulation still would require inquiries to be referred to the press secretary's office, but it also would allow department directors to answer questions and provide information of a non-controversial nature. The Virginia Freedom of Information Act guarantees public access to certain records and meetings, but it cannot compel officials to talk.

Similarly, school officials have wrestled with how they interact with reporters.

The School Board has tackled the issue head-on, while central office administrators have kept in place a policy of formal requests.

The board adopted in April and then about a month later rescinded a policy that put a gag order on members when communicating with the news media.

"There's some good stuff happening in Richmond schools, but there's some bad stuff, too, and we need to talk about that," School Board Vice Chairwoman Kimberly B. Gray said when the policy was rescinded. "And the media needs to be included in the discussion."

On day-to-day matters, the school administration -- which runs city schools -- has not changed its media policy. While some officials will answer questions, requests typically are funneled through the public information office. FOI requests, though, are handled by the School Board clerk.

Since early April, the city government's department directors have answered questions from a Times-Dispatch reporter about the proposed budget for next year; a construction project at Byrd Park; and the administrative approval of a permit for a driveway that's being challenged by Councilman Bruce W. Tyler.

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While access to officials in City Hall seems to be getting easier, access to Richmond police officials remains challenging.

The Richmond Police Department has its own media-relations office that provides basic information daily about crime incidents, as well as statistics upon request. Severalrequests from The Times-Dispatch to interview Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood for articles since early this year have been denied.

Norwood has refused to answer questions about police matters when approached at news conferences and events. But last Tuesday, he agreed to be interviewed to discuss a police-involved shooting. He also answered questions about several other topics.

Norwood said he now plans to increase the department's accessibility, a decision he made after becoming more comfortable with Richmond's media climate during his first six months on the job. He became Richmond's chief Nov. 3 after serving as police chief in Bridgeport, Conn.

Norwood said his department's general policy for handling media inquiries is for a ranking officer to respond to questions while working in concert with the department's public-information office.

But requests to interview investigators and other ranking police officials have been denied since Norwood became chief. In one instance, on March 10, a Times-Dispatch reporter's request to interview a police officer was met with a request from a police spokesman that the reporter complete a form detailing what questions would be asked.

Hawley said the police issues show that opening up is a work in progress. The police department, including Norwood and his media-relations staff, ultimately answer to the mayor.

Also answering to the mayor is Director of Community Development Rachel Flynn, who has been one of the city administration's most outspoken and visible officials -- even when Wilder was mayor. She had kept her high profile under Jones until recently.

Flynn blamed the April 11 collapse of a vacant hotel in Jackson Ward on the owners' slow response in addressing the building's structural problems. Less than two weeks later, she angered some council members when she publicly dismissed a planning commissioner's request that her staff continue to work with developers over the proposed Echo Harbour condominium and hotel project.

When asked about her candor and the city's policy on speaking to reporters, Flynn deferred to the press secretary's office.

"Your questions are about media policy," Hawley told a Times-Dispatch reporter. "Her role is community development."

Other local media outlets credited the Jones administration for improved openness.

"We've seen a positive, dramatic contrast to the previous administration as far as openness and response time, but Wilder certainly set a low bar," said Jason Roop, editor-in-chief of Style Weekly.

Roop added, however, that "we've been most disappointed that his administration continues to withhold transition reports that we and our attorneys believe to be public records."

Richmond reporter Rachel DePompa of WWBT-Channel 12 calls City Hall a different, more inviting place with Jones as mayor.

"I can tell you as a journalist, it's MUCH . . . easier to get information," she wrote in a blog entry early last month. "Don't get me wrong, City Hall still likes to control the message, but they get an A++ for still managing to answer the difficult questions. And for making people readily available for interviews."

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The local governments for Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover counties have no written policies addressing who can speak to the news media and under what circumstances.

Reporters routinely have access to ranking officials in those counties, as well as to public-information officers.

"I want the media to get their answers," said Tamra McKinney, Henrico's director of public relations and media services. "I don't believe in there being one single mouthpiece for the government."

Similarly, department directors in Chesterfield are authorized to answer reporters' questions, said Don Kappel, the county's director of public affairs. Some officials are comfortable talking to reporters, while others designate employees or work through the public-affairs office.

"It's really left up to the individual department directors in terms of dealing with the media," Kappel said.

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or .

Staff writers Reed Williams and Zachary Reid contributed to this report.