City says former DPU director isn't getting severance pay, but won't release document with details
This story and headline were updated after publication to include new information provided by city officials.
Richmond officials say former Department of Public Utilities director April Bingham isn't receiving severance pay after she stepped down from the job in the aftermath of last month’s water plant failure, but the city is refusing to release a document that might contain details on any severance arrangements that were considered.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Richmonder seeking copies of “any agreements in which the city committed to pay severance to former DPU director April Bingham related to her resignation,” city officials said they had one document matching that description.
That response indicated a severance deal was put on paper at some point, but a city spokesperson later said Bingham isn't receiving severance. The spokesperson would not comment further and would not explain the differing responses.
The city said it would not provide the underlying document The Richmonder requested that could shed light on Bingham's departure. To shield its release, officials invoked a transparency exemption that protects “contracts settling public employee employment disputes.”
Mayor Danny Avula has called Bingham’s separation from the city an “amicable” one, while also emphasizing the city’s need for a “different skill set” as it tries to move on from the water crisis.
Bingham had a background in customer service. Her replacement is Anthony “Scott” Morris, a licensed engineer who previously worked as director of water at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
Though the exact circumstances of Bingham’s departure are unknown, local governments often use severance packages to clear the way for smooth personnel changes and avoid hostilities with departing employees. The city’s personnel policies say separation agreements can include a negotiated amount of severance pay and must prohibit the employee from suing the city over their departure.
City Hall has invoked the same FOIA exemption in the past to conceal details about previous severance agreements struck under former Mayor Levar Stoney, according to reporting by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The FOIA response The Richmonder received Wednesday indicates that practice is continuing on Avula’s watch.
At a press conference last week, Avula seemed to indicate he was willing to revisit the city’s policy of treating severance packages as confidential.
“I thought the conversation we had was that we were going to release that information. I'm happy to follow up,” Avula said in response to a question from the Times-Dispatch about the withholding of severance information from Stoney’s time in office.
Virginia’s transparency laws state that contracts, salaries, rates of pay, reimbursement for expenses and “allowances” involving public employees should all be considered public information that’s mandatory to release. The city insists severance agreements are in a different category of “personnel records” that don’t have to be revealed.
Megan Rhyne, a transparency advocate who serves as executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said some documents settling employment disputes could contain genuinely sensitive information, such as details of child support obligations coming out of an employee’s paycheck.
But recent Virginia court rulings, she said, have encouraged government officials to redact sensitive portions of documents — as opposed to keeping the entire document secret — and only withhold personnel information that would amount to an “unwarranted invasion of privacy” if it became public.
“If you’re talking about an expenditure of funds, there’s no privacy interest in getting government money,” Rhyne said.
In response to a separate FOIA request, officials said the city has no resignation letter from Bingham.
