While advocating restructuring the city’s police and fire service tariff system earlier this year, members of the Richmond Coalition of Police said there had been high turnover over the past year as more than 70 officers left the police force.
A spokesman for police headquarters did not respond to questions on Tuesday.
Open government laws give the public the right to attend meetings attended by a majority of a council body. Both Trammell and Robertson sit on the Council Standing Committee on Public Safety. Saunders said it was common for the mayor and administrative officials to meet privately with a councilor or two, which does not trigger a meeting notice required by state law.
Megan Rhyne, a government transparency expert with the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said “two-on-two” meetings are fairly common in most local governments. She said the provision was written to allow elected officials to discuss government affairs and potential votes, but that in some cases it could be abused.
“Over the years it has evolved to replace a group meeting where you can have smaller meetings that can then be put together into a full meeting,” she said. “Although legal and not uncommon, the public can get suspicious.”
Speaking to Saunders after the meeting, Robertson asked the boss to send council staff the information he was expected to present on Tuesday.