Pierantoni Responds to FOIA Request

At the January 9, 2018 Charlotte County Board of Supervisors meeting The Southside Messenger editor Averett Jones addressed the board and presented a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request to the board and to Supervisor Kay Pierantoni. Both the Board and Super-visor Pierantoni are required to respond. The Board promptly responded stating they did not have the document requested. Since July 2016 Pierantoni has repeatedly stated, “I presented a petition to the board…”  Had this been true that petition Supervisor Kay Pierantoni would have been in board records.

Pierantoni responded to our FOIA  request stating: “The following is in response to your FOIA request dated January 8, 2018 and delivered by hand to me on January 9, 2018 during the Board of Supervisors 1:30 meeting: The records you have requested are not public records under the definition of ‘public records’ as defined in Code § 2.2-3701. These petitions of which you speak were prepared as a citizen approximately seventeen months before I took public office. The reading of the petition before the Board of Supervisors in July 2016 was also in my role as a private citizen before taking office.

Regarding my comments at the Jan-uary 8, 2018 Organizational Meeting, I simply referred to prior knowledge I had on the subject.”

Following Jones’ address to the board (see page 3 of this week’s Messenger for a transcript from the recording) Pierantoni responded,

“I just want to say that when I addressed that board in the past the one thing that was very clear, that this board made very clear, is that we shouldn’t personally attack someone. I’m..I’m not going to say anything about those comments; I’m going to ask you to find the appropriate time for me to address comments, because those, some of those comments were very personally about my integrity.”

Messenger Editor Averett Jones stated: “We do not see my address as an attack. We quoted Pierantoni and supported her commitment to ‘transparency and accountability’ and requested she comply with her own statements.”

Pierantoni has repeatedly stated the Southside Messenger is biased with no documentation. We will gladly publish any documentation of bias by the Messenger presented to us by Pierrantoni.