County Prosecutor demanding transparency on stadium deal

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Kristinpedia

nationwide arena Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien is reviewing the purchase contract for the Nationwide Arena in Ohio. He says he will push to make sure the taxpayer-owned facility is operated transparently.

O’Brien is reviewing this because even though taxpayers paid for the stadium the County Commissioners, Columbus City Council and the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority were considering having it be run by a private non-profit.

This switch would mean the authority would no longer be subject to the state’s FOIA and Open Meetings Law.

“Trade secrets is an exception to the public-records law, so that kind of information would be exempt from disclosure, but all other aspects should be as open and available as if the city/county were doing it,” O’Brien said in an email.

Thus far the government has ponied up $260 purchase and maintain the building until 2039.

“In my opinion, if anyone thought this would be private, well then I don’t know what they are thinking,” Columbus City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr. said.

I say “public dollars, public information.” If a non-profit must run the stadium, O’Brien is right to make sure it’ll still be held to Ohio’s transparency laws.

Find out more on FOIAing sports records

Police filing lawsuit over NATO OT pay

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Kristinpedia

chicago PD As a resident of Chicago, I can tell you that watching the city prepare for NATO feels a lot like you’re preparing for a war zone (which hopefully won’t happen this weekend.)

It also means that citizens are fully aware that every cop who can be on duty is on duty.

And a number of the police officers believe their contracts are being violated during the summit. According to a police contract signed last year, when police work overtime they can either be compensated in cash or in time-off.

However, overtime work slips have been printed for 3,100 officers on NATO duty and instead of offering time or money for the overtime hours, the city is only offering cash.

“NATO is not an excuse for the city of Chicago to circumvent the contract,” FOP President Mike Shields said Thursday. “It clearly states that officers working overtime are to be paid in either time or money. It’s their choice.

As a citizen, I do not know how much this overtime pay is costing the city. In fact, any information on the Chicago Police Department is hard to come by.

And, thanks to our hyperlocal salaries project, what I do know is that at least seven officers are collecting over $150k annually. I can’t imagine how much OT from NATO will cost, especially since police are expected to be working 12 hour shifts.

The city should have released information on planning for NATO and what it would cost taxpayers. The Chicago Police Department should be as upfront with what labor costs will be as they are being with their demands the city abide by their contract.

Regardless, it will be interesting so see what data about the cost of the NATO summit is released and how the city will conduct itself during this weekend.

Public Officials also have a right to know how public dollars are spent

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Kristinpedia

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas is being forced to use the Freedom of Information Act to demand financial information from 63 local units of government, including information on their total debt.

Sadly this is not the first time I’ve seen this story. In fact, I see this story about once a month where public officials are denied access to public information either internally or through FOIA rejection.

That does not mean that I’m not continually shocked to see public officials are struggling as watchdog citizens are to gain access to how public dollars are being spent.

Can you imagine an employee telling a manager of a company they could not have access to their expense report?

These 63 units of government are ignoring Cook County’s Debt Disclosure Ordinance which requires them to upload their 2011 debt and other financial information to the Treasurer’s website by last December.

“We are taking this extraordinary step of using the FOIA provision because government may not flout the law any more than an individual,” Pappas said. “If anything, government should set the example in obeying the law.”

Pappas has said they’re willing to sue to get the documents. But how does this provide good government? Taxpayer dollars paying for FOIA lawsuits issues by public officials?

For the record here is a list of the 63 government units refusing to comply:

The following taxing districts received FOIA requests:

Addison Creek River Conservancy District, Northlake.Chicago Heights Park District.City of Burbank.Clyde Park District, Cicero.Crawford Countryside Sanitary District, Matteson.Central Stickney Sanitary District, Chicago.Dixmoor Public Library District.Dolton Public Library District.Ford Heights Public Library District.Forest River Sanitary District, Mt. Prospect.Forest View Fire Protection District.Franklin Park Library District.Harvey Public Library District.High School District 209, Maywood.Hometown Fire Protection District.Justice Park District.Kimber Trail Sanitary District, Palos Park.Lighthouse Park District of Evanston.Lincolnway High School 210.Markham Park District.Maywood Park District.Miller Woods Fire Protection District, Steger.Niles Public Library District.Northfield Woods Sanitary District, Glenview.Oak Meadow Sanitary District, Des Plaines.Phoenix Public Library District.Pleasantdale Park District, Burr Ridge.Plum Grove Countryside Park District, Palatine.Plum Grove Estates Sanitary District, Palatine.Posen Park District.Posen Public Library District.Riverdale Park District.Riverside Lawn Fire District.Robbins Park District.Roberts Park Fire Protection District, Hickory Hills/Justice.Roselle Fire Protection District.South Palos Township Sanitary District, Palos Park.South Stickney Sanitary District Burbank.School District 149, Dolton/Calumet City.School District 88, Bellwood.Sunnycrest Fire Protection District, Flossmoor.Southwest Home Equity Assurance 1, Chicago.Thorntown Township High School 205.Township of New Trier.Union Drainage District No. 1, Deerfield.Village of South Chicago Heights.Village of Barrington Hills.Village of Marrionette Park.Village of Burnham.Village of Calumet Park.Village of Dixmoor.Village of East Hazelcrest.Village of Evergreen Park.Village of Ford Heights.Village of Maywood.Village of McCook.Village of Phoenix.Village of Robbins.Village of Saul Village.Village of Stone Park.Village of University Park.Westdale Park District, Melrose Park.Woodley Road Sanitary District, Winnetka.

Arkansas Open Meetings Law under attack

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Kristinpedia

The Arkansas Open Meetings Law is pretty generic and to sum could be summed up as: “public business will be done publicly, or have the information made public later.”

Currently a lawsuit is going to the Arkansas Supreme Court that will decide past Fort Smith City Administrator Dennis Kelly violated the open meetings act. It is alleged he discussed city business with several city directors in a series of private, one-on-one conversations in 2009.

The Circuit Court has ruled that Kelly was within his rights to do this.

You can imagine the uproar is caused.

The Attorney General, Arkansas Press Association and The Reporters Committee for the Freedom are appealing the decision.

More fuel was thrown on the fire when at a recent FOIA summit the lawyer defending the city of Form Smith said that media vilifies public officials and can’t understand the concept of privacy (to paraphrase.)

The Times Record came out swinging defending their access to public information, you can read the entire rebuttal here.

Transparency—an unfunded mandate?

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Kristinpedia

unfunded mandates The DATA Act is being hailed by Congress and citizens alike, but state and local officials are getting nervous about it.

Why?

The DATA Act will create the kind of accountability we were supposed to see with the passage of the stimulus, tracking federal spending and extending it across all federal contracts, grants and loans.

According to Governing.com:

The bill would require any recipients of federal funds (including state and local governments) to report at least quarterly how they used those funds to a newly created Federal Accountability and Spending Transparency Board. That board would also be charged with developing standards for which information should be reported, and it would help create a searchable platform for federal spending and reporting data that would be the successor of USASpending.gov.

Now, keep in mind that state websites have already spent anywhere from $5,000 to $600,000 creating their transparency portals. Forty-six states are currently publishing check register data. And now they’re being told that their formatting isn’t going to work with these new standards.

I’d be a bit peeved too.

But I will say this, stream lining reporting from local and state entities would be a fantastic way to clean up and track data. In fact, it’s one of the biggest hurdles states are having when reporting local data. So yes, this legislation may be considered an unfunded mandate for transparency, but I think the merits of this investment will have a positive impact on government accountability for years to come.