Memo shows city e-mails, texts were public records, lawyer testifies
September 26, 2008: A lawyer for the City of Detroit testified Thursday that she believed a memo signed by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick declaring e-mails and other electronic communications were public records was a valid policy, even though the memo was
The testimony could bolster the contention of the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News that text messages sent on city-issued pagers are public records -- a key point in the newspapers' efforts to obtain more records in their Freedom of Information lawsuit against the city. Read the full article here.
No need to reinvent wheel in considering FOIA policy
September 25, 2008: In the wake of criticism over the handling of a FOIA request by former supervisor candidate and current Plymouth-Canton schools Trustee Dianne Gonzalez, the township board is trying to implement a new policy designed to create one single, omniscient FOIA guru who would, in a perfect world, coordinate all such requests that come into the township, no matter which department is asked to handle them. Read the full column here.
Editorial: GT board stumbles again
September 24, 2008: Leave it to the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners to dream up a new way to stumble over laws designed to ensure good government.
The board continually struggles to comprehend -- and sometimes fails to comply with -- the backbone acronyms of honest and transparent government: the OMA (Open Meetings Act) and FOIA (Freedom of Information Act). Read the full editorial here.
Why the trouble with agendas?
September 10, 2008: I sometimes wonder at the apparent disconnect between members of the Wayne 20/20 Committee and the Wayne City Council.
The 20/20 Committee wanted something relatively simple: they wanted city council meeting agendas posted on the new city web site as soon as they were formalized.
Rather than acknowledge that it was a good idea and pass it along, the council members referred it to the administration to see how much it would cost and what it would take to implement it. Read the full column here.
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