A $27,000 Price Tag to Know How Much Road Fight has Cost Taxpayers

The Taxpayer Association of Kane County, Utah, was astounded when it received the estimated cost of its request for records regarding how much the county has spent battling the federal Bureau of Land Management regarding ownership of public roads in southern Utah -- $27,000 and a few years.

The group does not take a position in the litigation over the removal of 31 BLM road closure signs on hundreds of public roads in 2003, but it does want to know how much the fight has cost the county. The taxpayer group requested information regarding how much money has been spent from the general fund; how much time county employees have spent on road projects; how much has been spent on private contractors; all attorneys fees; any costs for vehicles or equipment; per diem costs for associated travel; and any surveys and maps created.

The Kane County attorney maintains the scope of the request is too broad and vague to merit a reasonable response in terms of cost and time, estimating it would take two paid researchers at least 1,500 hours to gather the information requested.

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Proposed Public Access Reform Draws Bi-Partisan Support

The Time for Transparency Act, which creates as timeline for government officials to respond to public records requests, has brought together some unlikely allies in support of the bill, including the conservative government watchdog group Maine Heritage Policy Center, the Maine Civil Liberties Union, the Maine Press Association, and both Republican and Democratic Lawmakers.

The proposal would require government officials to produce public records within 10 days of a request. Under current law, they are given five days to tell the requester whether the document sought is a public record. The bill would also allow people to request copies of public records by phone, and would allow a copies to be mailed if the requester pays for postage. The bill also proposes that every governmental body designate an existing employee to serve as a public information officer to oversee all public records requests.

The Maine Freedom of Information Coalition is not supporting the bill because of concern that the longer deadline would prolong the response time for information that is clearly public records.

Get more information here.

Testing Illinois Localities on FOIA Compliance

The Herald-News did an interesting test of state and local government response times to new Illinois FOIA laws, which took effect January 1. The news organization sent FOIA requests to more than 100 local towns, school districts and counties, seeking information on where taxpayer money is being spent.

Check out the results here and an interactive feature here.

Maryland County Adopts Triage Approach for Records Requests

Allegany County will begin using a "triage concept" for evaluating requests under the Maryland Public Information Act to categorize requests as routine or complex and respond accordingly.

The change comes after a public information officer and county attorney attended a training seminar presented by Assistant Attorney General William Varga. 

Allegany County will not be adopting a recommendation to receive or respond to records requests via email.  

Get more here.

Rating the Responsiveness of Florida School Districts

Non-profit Sunshine Review recently conducted its Back-to-School guide for parents regarding the responsiveness of the state's school systems.  Although they found some exceptional cases like Orange County Public Schools, it also found instances where the records were difficult to obtain either because of cryptic responses, expensive costs, and bureaucratic attitudes. 

Check out the details here. 

  

Missouri Roundtable for Life says Carnahan never responded to requests

Missouri Roundtable for Life says it filed three separate Sunshine Law requests and did not receive any response from Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, KMBC-TV (Kansas City) reported. Carnahan's office, however, says it responded to two requests it received from the group, which has filed a Sunshine Law complaint against Carnahan.

Missouri Roundtable for Life (MRFL) filed a Sunshine Law complaint against Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.

The group said the complaint was filed because Carnahan failed to respond to the three separate Sunshine Law requests made by MRFL that accompanied three new initiative petitions on Feb. 19, 2009.

Under the Sunshine Law, Carnahan is required to notify a party within three working days of how it is going about handling the Sunshine Law request.

More here.