Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/67129
Page 4 May 24, 2012 Keeping records secret gets expensive A the cost of copies of emails indicates an attitude prob lem more than a flaw in the Access to Public Records Act. According to The Paper of Montgomery County (Craw fordsville), commissioners Jim Fulwider, Phil Bane and Terry Hockersmith expressed unhappiness with a $7,907 cost associated with requests by Indiana newspapers and TV stations for emails between Montgomery County Assessor Kelly Ewolt and David McCartney, an employ ee of the Madison County assessor's office. The county email system reportedly had been used by the two to exchange messages of a sexual nature, according to a story by Frank Phillips in The Paper. fuss by the Montgom ery County Board of Commis sioners over that the cost was for county attorney Dan Taylor to review Hockersmith told The Paper more than 1,000 emails to see what information should be kept confidential. Here's where I think atti tude toward government transparency comes into play. The Access to Public Records Act starts with the assumption that all records should be made available for inspection or copying except for certain subjects where the law mandates secrecy or allows discretion concerning confidentiality. Overt flirting and personal messages of an elected official and a public employee using taxpayerowned equipment and presumably on the tax payers' clock is not subject matter that the General Assembly designated for secrecy. So why would the review of all the emails be assigned to an attorney who will charge Montgomery County his con tracted hourly rate? A county official or employ HSPA Hotline from the Sullivan Daily Times, The Madison Courier, Perry County News (Tell City) and Carroll County Comet (Delphi): The following questions came A Q Q Q A sioner. Would that be a violation of the Open Door Law? chairman is complaining about a meeting between two county commissioners and a Knox County commis- The Democratic county County business, that would tend to make it a meeting that would require the 48 hours of notice under the Open Door Law. If the three are talking politics or If the subject involves Sullivan the meeting was called and what the subject matter was. It would depend on how until after the board approves it, if they do. Can he deny access to the record? A sports, it wouldn't fit the definition of a meeting. If the gathering was initiated by the Knox County commissioner with individual invitations to the two Sullivan County officials, it might fall under the chance gathering exception because neither Sullivan County commissioner was aware that the other was also invited. another website? Yes. Under the terms of its photos to its Facebook page, can it still exert copyright against someone who uses the photos on If the newspaper uploads records are available for inspection and copying unless the public agency can cite statutory authority that either requires or gives it the discre tion to keep them confidential. You need to ask the school board The assumption is that public dent handed it to the board members, it became a pub lic record. When the superinten Points By Steve Key Key ee could have conducted the initial review at no additional cost above the person's nor mal pay. I'm afraid it's because many public officials approach records requests from the point of view of trying to max imize the number of records they can declare confidential. Any reasonably intelligent person could review the list of 12 subjects where confiden tiality is required and the 23 subjects where discretion to keep records secret is avail able. The vast majority of topics on both lists wouldn't come into play when examining the emails in question. trade secrets, university research, police investiga tory records, autopsy photos, economic development nego tiation documents, computer programming codes or school safety plans were found in the emails in question. So anyone with some common sense could have reviewed the emails and flagged those that might require a look by the county attorney. This approach could have resulted in a handful of emails that might require the prudence of an attorney review. The cost to review a few I doubt subjects such as where access could be denied. Too often I see public offi cials apply no discretion when it comes to subjects that can be kept confidential. If it's possible to declare the emails compared to more than 1,000 obviously would be sig nificant at $100 or more an hour. So why turn them all over to the attorney? Because an attorney would be most adept at fer reting out any possibility record secret, they do. End of story. They give no thought to the benefits of public knowledge of the record in question. Some officials ignore the legislative directive that "all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs [no pun intended] of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public offi cials and employees." And that's why you see pub lic officials complaining about the cost of making informa tion available to the public – information that really belongs to Hoosiers. tor and general counsel for HSPA. Steve Key is executive direc- president or superintendent what statutory basis they are relying on to deny your request. The fact that it hasn't been Q A tected for the person who created the photo. You legally could contact the web site's owners and request that they refrain from appropriating your pho tos for their benefit. addendum to his contract that would extend it. He asked board members to consider it for action at a meeting next week. After the meeting, I requested a school-board meeting, the interim superintendent for Cannelton City Schools distributed a proposed During a regular copy. The superintendent responded that he would not provide a copy Facebook's agreement with its customers, the copyright for any photos remains pro approved yet doesn't matter. Is there anything in Indiana state code that mandates that minutes be taken at a public meet- ing? lowing information: 1. Date, time and place of the meet Law, when a governing body meets, it must keep a memoranda with the fol Under the Open Door ing 2. The members of the governing body recorded as either present or absent 3. The general substance of all mat ters proposed, discussed or decided 4. A record of all votes taken, by individual members if there is a roll call vote. The memoranda are to be available within a reasonable period of time after the meeting for the purpose of informing the public of the governing body's proceedings. See IC 5141.54. So minutes aren't required but memoranda are. A tape recording of the meeting could qualify as a memoranda as long as the above information is recorded. Otherwise, you're talking about someone taking notes of the meet ing, and those notes should be available for inspection and copying unless they're in use to create meet ing minutes when someone makes the request to inspect the memo randa. tive director and general counsel, with media law questions at skey@ hspa.com or (317) 624-4427. Contact Steve Key, HSPA execu- www.HSPAFoundation.org/golf-outing Join the fray – Register at Without publishing anything new, the Fayetteville Observer ad package created new, year-long revenue in just one week! 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