A committee of the McLean Community Center Board has refused to release to McLean residents copies of a $100,000 consultant's report paid for with taxpayer money on the feasibility of replacing the Old Firehouse Teen Center.

The Capital Facilities Committee, headed by Kevin Dent, met Wednesday and went into closed session to discuss the report from Jones Lang, a leading real estate company.

The Virginia Freedom of Information law states: "A report of a consultant hired by or at the request of a local public body" is available to the public "if the contents of such report have been distributed or disclosed to members of the local public body."

The FOI law also requires that a public body say in writing why they are withholding information from the public. Dent said at the meeting that the committee had consulted with the county attorney who said they did not need to release the report. He gave no written justification for the denial of the report at the committee meeting.

On behalf of McLean residents, McLean Patch filed a formal request with Dent and the community center for a written justification for keeping the report secret.

The board responded Tuesday that it was keeping the report confidential because it was complied solely for discussion in closed meetings, which is an exemption under the law.

The board hired Jones Lang, a well-known real estate company, to do a feasibility study on what if anything the board might build on the site of the Old Firehouse Teen Center in downtown McLean. MCC has long talked of replacing the teen center with  either a gymnasium or a community building that would include a black box theater.

A few challenges face the board: They don't own the land. There is no space for parking at a new building. The land needs rezoning. The board is unsure what it wants to build.

The FOI law also indicates that the public can't be denied access to a consultant's report if a public body "has scheduled any action on a matter that is the subject of the consultant's report."

This is the second time in two months that a board member has denied McLean residents copies of a taxpayer-funded report. Board member Risa Sanders denied access to a $30,000 taxpayer-funded random telephone survey to determine who uses the community center. McLean Patch filed a Freedom of Information request on behalf of the neighbors and obtained the report.

Sanders is also a member of the Capital Facilities Committee along with board members Susan Bourgeois, Lee DiCenso and Craig Richardson.

The board voted in September 2010  to spend up to $100,000 of taxpayer money, without deciding on the scope of work for the consultant. Dent said representatives for Jones Lang Wooten helped the committee determine the scope of the work to be done. 

Then Dent's committee voted in closed session to award the contract to Jones Lang in December.

The Virginia Freedom of Information law reads: "No resolution, ordinance, rule, contract, regulation or motion adopted passed or agreed to in a closed meeting shall become effective unless the public body following the meeting, reconvenes in open meeting and takes a vote of the membership on such resolution, ordinance, rule, contract, regulations or motion that shall have its substance reasonably identified in the open meeting."

"I think it's very clear that unless there is some other special provision that I don't know that allows you to take a vote in a closed meeting, you can't do it." said Alan Gernhardt, staff attorney, for the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, a state agency.

Dent also refused to give residents a copy of the contract. McLean Patch filed a Freedom of Information request and received a copy of the contract for the neighbors.