The Future of Round the Triangle
The Future of Round the Triangle
New government transparency focus
Howdy!
First of all, I want to say that I’ve enjoyed greeting all of you every Sunday morning for the past several months, sharing recaps of local news and upcoming events. When I started this newsletter last October, my goal was to have 100 subscribers by the end of 2024, and thanks to you I’ve already reached 200 subscribers! I appreciate your support as I’ve tried different offerings like podcasts, news quizzes, and more.
As part of that experimentation, I started creating meeting summaries for the Williamsburg James City County School Board a couple of months ago with the help of ChatGPT. Last month, for the first time, I shared the meeting summary with all subscribers. This feature is what excites me the most about Round the Triangle, because I believe it has the most potential to inform you about what’s happening in our area and empower you to make positive change in our community.
That’s why, going forward, Round the Triangle will be focused on producing summaries of government meetings in the Historic Triangle area of Virginia. You’ll still receive quick, easy-to-digest emails about what’s happening locally, but now the content will be centered on government transparency, rather than news recaps or podcasts.
What to Expect
Free Subscribers:
You’ll receive summaries of Williamsburg-James City County school board meetings the Sunday after the meeting
Occasional Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reports on local government
More local government meeting summaries to come…
Paid Subscribers:
WJCC school board summaries the day after the meeting
WJCC school board work session summaries the day after the meeting
FOIA reports
Early access to new local government meeting summaries
James City County Board of Supervisors 2023 Expenses
Here’s an example of the FOIA reports you can expect. Below is a graph visualizing the expenses reimbursed to James City County Board of Supervisors members last year, including expenses related to travel, meals, and training. You can download the data here.
I’ve also obtained reimbursement records for Williamsburg City Council and the York County Board of Supervisors. Stay tuned for those reports later this month.
WJCC School Board Work Session Live Recap
Sunday, June 9 at 10 am
As part of this new direction, I want to connect more with all of you. I’ll be hosting a live recap of the WJCC School Board Work Session next Sunday at 10 am on Zoom.
During this virtual session, I will go over what happened at the June 4 work session, explain my process for writing meeting summaries, and share my predictions for the June 18 regular school board meeting.
This is a great opportunity to meet other Round the Triangle subscribers and discuss educational issues in the Historic Triangle area. Hope to see you there!
Poll
I greatly value y’all’s input as Round the Triangle takes this new direction. Please answer the questions below:
Thank you!
I know this is a big change and that it might not be what you initially signed up for with Round the Triangle. However, I’m confident that these summaries can make local government more accessible and understandable for everyone.
If you still want recaps of local news and upcoming events in the Historic Triangle, I strongly recommend my friend Christin’s newsletter The Triangle. Her coverage is excellent!
If you have any questions about these changes, please don’t hesitate to message me by clicking the button below or emailing me.