After 4 months York County (PA) won’t release public information; other counties did so in days

The York Dispatch is in a legal battle with York County for information that Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records has stated is clearly a public record.

The newspaper first requested basic information about prothonotary office employees — including names, pay rates, job titles and dates of hire — in late July.

The York Dispatch sought the information from York County officials and from York County’s judiciary but was repeatedly denied by both entities.

York County solicitor Michélle Pokrifka maintains it’s up to the judiciary to release those records, not the county. York County Court Administrator Paul Crouse and President Judge Joseph C. Adams have said the judiciary doesn’t keep those records — the county does.

The matter has now been appealed to York County Common Pleas Judge Clyde W. Vedder. Read more.