HENRICO COUNTY, VIRGINIA GENERAL POLICY GOVERNING USE OF COUNTY FACILITIES Presented by: John L. Knight Deputy County Attorney Henrico County Attorney’s Office September 21, 2010

The Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution, agenda item no The Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution, agenda item no. 272-86, on May 13, 1986, titled “Establishment of General Policy Governing Use of County Facilities.” The Policy: Applies to County buildings but does not apply to the use of sidewalks, streets, or parks. Recognizes that County facilities are primarily for the use of the County and its agencies in accomplishing their various governmental purposes.

Expresses the Board’s desire to permit reasonable use of County facilities by the public when not in use or otherwise needed by the County and its agencies. Does not apply to School facilities.

Presently, only the following County facilities are available for non-County use: The Board Room in the Administration Building. The Community Room in the Eastern Government Center. Meetings rooms in libraries.

“Non-County” use contemplates use of a facility by persons or entities other than: County officials and employees in the course of their employment. County boards, authorities, commissions, and agencies. Entities sponsored by a County board, authority, commission, or agency in which a County officer or employee is a participant and is acting in the course of his or her employment.

No charge for use of the Board Room, Community Room, and Library meeting rooms by the public. All requests for non-County use of these County facilities must be made in writing on an application form provided by the County. Application forms are available from the third floor receptionist for the Board Room and at the Eastern Government Center for the Community Room. Application form for Library meeting rooms is available on the CHPL website.

All applications for use of the Board Room and the Community Room are reviewed by the County Attorney’s Office and approved by the County Manager if the applicant meets the following criteria: The applicant is not a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, LLC, association, or other business entity licensed to do business as a for-profit organization seeking to use the facility in question for profit-making activities. The requested use is not on the date and hours when the facility is needed for County use.

The requested use will be during hours when the facility is open for public use. De facto policy of the County is to permit the use of these two rooms on weekdays until 10:00 p.m. The room has not already been reserved for use for the date and hours requested.

Other factors concerning rooms available for public use: The Policy does not prohibit political activities, religious services, or secret meetings. An applicant may not schedule the use of a room for multiple dates or for recurring dates, e.g., the third Thursday of every month for the next year.

The Policy does not apply to those facilities that are rented – Recreation and Parks facilities.

Example of prohibited “commercial” use of County facilities: XYZ Corporation wants to use the Boardroom for an orientation for its new employees. Attorney who specializes in certain types of trusts wants to use the Community Room to “educate” the public about the benefits of that type of trust. Software salesman wants to use a room to teach the public how to use software that he sells, even though he will not be selling the software during his use of the room.

Conference rooms, meeting rooms, and other spaces within individual agencies may not be used for non-County purposes. Examples of non-County use of a room: Employee sells to or takes orders from other County employees for baskets, cosmetics, etc. Employee uses her conference for a meeting of her home-owners board of directors of which he is a member. Employees arrange for a vendor to come to their office to teach a class not related to their County employment, e.g., aerobics, yoga, or weight loss.

Why be concerned about permitting your facilities to be used for non-County purposes? Once a room is opened up to public use, you may have to permit other members of the public to use it.

If you have a question about whether the use of any room or space within your department constitutes non-County use, please contact John Knight in the County Attorney’s Office @ 501-4343 or kni08@co.henrico.va.us.