Transcript Document 7557497

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. 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 nonCounty use, please contact John
Knight in the County Attorney’s Office
@ 501-4343 or
[email protected].