The NFOIC open government blog is a compendium of original concepts and analysis as well as ideas, edited excerpts and materials from a variety of sources. When the information comes from another source, we will attribute it and provide a link. The blog relies on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited; we will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.
For Advocate posts prior to July, 2011, visit http://foiadvocate.blogspot.com/.
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From The Ledger: LAKELAND | Five city commissioners say they want some answers about why the Lakeland Police Department continues to be embroiled in disputes over releasing public records.
[...]
The latest controversy came earlier this week when LPD refused for almost two days to release to The Ledger a robbery suspect's full arrest report, one of the most common public records produced by law enforcement.
From TCPalm: You’ve heard of cheating in the classroom but the Contact 5 Investigators have uncovered a cheating scandal in the Martin County 911 dispatch center.
Through public records request, NewsChannel 5 obtained personnel records and internal affairs audio tapes outlining a test cheating case involving 911 dispatchers and deputies in the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.
From The Ledger: LAKELAND | Joel Chandler, a public records access advocate from Lakeland, is in hot water in a Ninth Judicial Circuit Court case. A judge has forwarded a document from the public records case to prosecutors for investigation. There's at least a possibility Chandler could face jail time.
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Chandler is alleged to have deliberately misled the court by not being truthful when he submitted an application asking for indigent status when he filed a public records lawsuit against the Saint Cloud Police Department. People who are poor enough to qualify don't have to pay the $400 fee to file a lawsuit.
From The Ledger: LAKELAND | City commissioners plan to discuss on Friday a proposed ordinance that would change the way public records are available.
The proposed change would allow the city to charge people if employees spend more than 30 minutes on a public records request.
From News-Press.com:
It seems like a reasonable idea: Before the records in a criminal or civil case can be made public, Florida’s clerks of court must purge them of all Social Security, credit card and bank numbers.
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The Associated Press and newspapers throughout the state, including The News-Press, visited every county’s clerk of court offices in recent weeks to see whether each is complying with the law and how much of a delay it is causing in the release of information. The project, under the direction of the Florida Society of News Editors, was done in conjunction with this year’s Sunshine Week, an annual initiative which started last Sunday to promote greater transparency in government. In order to test the effect of the new requirement, representatives from 31 news organizations requested to view the hard copies of two civil cases and two criminal cases in all 67 counties. The criminal cases were generally a week old and six months old, as were the civil cases. Requests for 268 records were made.
From The Daytona Beach News-Journal:
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The Associated Press and newspapers throughout the state, including The Daytona Beach News-Journal, visited every county's clerk of court office in recent weeks to see whether each is complying with the law and how much of a delay it is causing in the release of information.
The project, under the direction of the Florida Society of News Editors, was done in conjunction with this year's Sunshine Week, an annual initiative starting Sunday to promote greater transparency in government. In order to test the effect of the new requirement, representatives from 31 news organizations requested to view the hard copies of two civil cases and two criminal cases in all 67 counties. The criminal cases were generally a week old and 6 months old, as were the civil cases. Requests for 268 records were made.
From Becker's Hospital Review:
Service Employees International Union Local 1991 has sued Miami's Jackson Health System and CEO Carlos Migoya over public record requests about hospital business, according to a South Florida Business Journal report.
The union is asking Jackson to comply with a request for public records dating back to April 2010 and up to August, saying it needs the information to bargain on behalf of members, according to the report. It specifically wants records on the hospital's use of nursing agencies, overtime usage by unit, Public Health Trust audits and tax returns, a copy of all consulting contracts exceeding $50,000 and the system's strategic plan.
From San Francisco Chronicle:
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — When Jacksonville City Councilman Robin Lumb tried to ask questions about the recent tuberculosis outbreak among Jacksonville's homeless, he was never able to get answers. ... He wanted to know the implications of the Jacksonville outbreak, but the Duval County Health Department wouldn't return emails, he said. He wasn't the only one who couldn't get an explanation.
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A review of state and local health department emails over a four-year period revealed the health department's hesitancy to release public records to a reporter and not publicizing a tuberculosis investigation at a local school despite the director later saying the department typically does. Earlier, the health department only began discussing the outbreak publicly after an email was mistakenly sent to reporters.
From WPTV.com:
FORT PIERCE — Should Port St. Lucie taxpayers pay the estimated $3.5 million charge to produce public records requested by former members of the Police Department in a lawsuit against the city?
"No," said attorney Allen Sange, who is representing the city in a lawsuit filed by four former city police officers and two civilian employees claiming they've been denied access to public records needed to argue their wrongful termination suit.
From The Gainesville Sun:
A circuit court judge has ruled that the city of Gainesville did not violate the state's public records law by requiring that a former employee pay some $40,000 in advance to process a public records request made in connection with an employment discrimination complaint against the city.
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The case involved a request that Erin Friedberg, the city's former visual arts coordinator, made for every email she sent or received while employed by the city from 2003 to 2010.
From Tampa Bay Times:
Florida's court system is breaking into the digital age. Instead of musty paper files that sit on forgotten shelves in courthouses, county clerks across the state have entered tens of thousands of criminal, civil, traffic and other public records onto computers.
Just don't expect to access them from your computer. Because while Florida law says that most government records are open to the public, the state Supreme Court issued a moratorium in 2003 that prevents most court records from being posted online.
A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week:
Judge to hear arguments in public records dispute
DOVER — A Superior Court judge has scheduled oral arguments in a case that will determine if a Kent County sewer and water utility is subject to Delaware’s public records law or if the entity can continue to keep its detailed financial and operational documents private.
Visit Delaware Online for the rest.
Phone bill ruling confirms public's right to know
A ruling by Superior Court Judge Howard E. Manning Jr. regarding a former UNC-Chapel Hill football coach's cell phone bills applies to all public officials and employees. In response to a public records challenge, Manning ruled that the telephone bills of former UNC coach Butch Davis are in the public domain and as such must be disclosed.
Visit Hickory Daily Record for the rest.
Public records advocate sues school board over release of emails
BARTOW | A Lakeland open government activist is suing the Polk County School Board for what he contends is the board's unlawful refusal to provide public records. Joel Chandler filed a Circuit Court lawsuit Wednesday against the School Board and Superintendent Sherrie Nickell. Chandler is trying to get access to hundreds of potential emails exchanged between School Board members Frank O'Reilly and Kay Fields during four months of 2011.
Visit The Ledger for the rest.
'We the People' goes open-source
The Obama administration's "We the People" online petitions platform has been open-sourced, allowing other individuals or groups to tailor the system for their own use. The "We the People" code was released under the GNU General Public License yesterday, and is now available on GitHub
Visit CNET for the rest.
Daugaard and South Dakota AG urge open government
PIERRE | Gov. Dennis Daugaard said Wednesday that South Dakota government should be as open as possible so people can find out what the state and local governments are doing. Daugaard and Attorney General Marty Jackley appointed the 33-member task force, which intends to recommend changes in laws dealing with open meetings and the availability of documents held by state agencies and local governments. The panel includes representatives of news organizations, law enforcement officials and prosecutors, and officials from cities, counties and school districts.
Visit Rapid City Journal for the rest.
Durand officials, businessman clash over FOIA fees
DURAND — A new dispute between local business owner Carl Hatley and Durand officials concerns the city’s cost estimate of more than $11,000 to produce public records requested by Hatley through the Freedom of Information Act. Officials say the fee is justified by the broad scope of the request, while Hatley, the owner of Railway Pizza on Saginaw Street, says language on the city’s website — an “error” that was removed after he made the request — indicates he shouldn’t be charged anything.
Visit The Argus-Press for the rest.
California Legislature: Open data initiative to see final vote next week
The California Public Records Act requires state and local government agencies make documents not exempt from disclosure available to the public upon request so that residents can monitor how their government is functioning. Currently agencies are required to produce any electronic document considered a public record in whichever electronic format the document is maintained. A bill authored by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) would create an open data standard for electronic documents making government more transparent and accountable.
Visit California Forward for the rest.
Open government: It is the principle of naming school principal that matters
Governing groups can go into executive session -- which means behind a closed door, shut off from the public -- for specific matters, such as negotiations. But they must vote openly, as required under the Freedom of Information Act, which has guided public disclosure for more than 35 years in Connecticut. The Danbury Board of Education did vote in public, but did not disclose who they were voting for as the new principal of Stadley Rough Elementary School.
Visit The News-Times for the rest.
