Pennsylvania transparency headlines from 2008
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from Pennsylvania in 2008. For the most current headlines, please see Pennsylvania transparency headlines.
In Pa., neglected records may mean longer waits
December 24, 2008: In many government offices, records requests made under the state's new Right-to-Know Law may take longer than necessary to process because officials have not policed their files over the years and disposed of outdated records.
It's unclear how many agencies are saddled with overflowing files that may date back decades, but anecdotal evidence suggests the situation is not unusual at the county and municipal levels of government.
Because the law that takes effect Jan. 1 applies to all records—regardless of age—sloppy record-keeping is one of the biggest obstacles to implementing the law, says Terry Mutchler, director of the state Office of Open Records. Read the full article here.
New Pa. law opens up government contractor records
December 23, 2008: Private businesses that do business with state and local governments in Pennsylvania are about to find themselves having to make some of their records available to the public.
But there are signs that many of those contractors are unaware of the provision in the new Right-to-Know Law, and experts are debating just how it will apply - a dispute that may end up being resolved by the courts. Read the full article here.
Court: Public not entitled to officials' cell phone records
December 22, 2008: The public is not entitled to obtain complete records of public officials' taxpayer-funded cell phones, the state's highest court has ruled.
Ruling in case brought by the Tribune-Review in its effort to review the cell phone records of two Pittsburgh city council members, the state Supreme Court said that the privacy interests of the people council members called, and received calls from, outweigh the public interest in the disclosure of those numbers. Read the full article here.
Pa. open-records chief shows independent spirit
December 6, 2008: Weeks before the state Office of Open Records opens for business, it's clear that office director Terry Mutchler is not going to simply carry the water for Gov. Ed Rendell—the man who appointed her and is technically her boss.
Despite a hectic schedule of workshops at which Mutchler has been teaching Pennsylvanians across the state about the newly expanded Right-to-Know Law, behind the scenes the reporter-turned-lawyer has displayed a willingness to take stands that are at odds with the views of the governor's office. Read the full article here.
Rendell directive at odds with openness
December 32, 2008: Gov. Ed Rendell must have skipped class or been asleep in the back of the room the day the director of Pennsylvania’s new Office of Open Records announced that custodians of public records could not charge citizens for time spent complying with open records requests. Why else would he have issued a directive last week telling them they could?
This is a bad way to start in what should be a new era of transparency in government for the commonwealth. The governor’s office should be setting the example for local officials, many of whom are fearful the new law — which most other states consider routine — will impose a burden on their limited staffs and budgets. Read the full editorial here.
Those who handle records are paid by taxpayers; Rendell should rescind added handling charge
December 2, 2008: It didn't take long for the Rendell administration to clash with its new Office of Open Records and the recently enacted law that largely takes effect Jan. 1 that the office was created to enforce and administer.
One day the open-records office announces that it has established 25 cents as the maximum amount per page that any agency of state, county or local government can charge. And practically the next day it was learned that the governor's office had issued a directive allowing state agencies to charge a "reasonable fee" to cover the costs of searching and retrieving documents. This would be in addition to the standard copying fee allowed. Read the full editorial here.
Pa. open-records chief objects to redaction fees
November 29, 2008: Gov. Ed Rendell should reconsider a directive allowing state agencies to charge for retrieving public documents and redacting information, according to the director of Pennsylvania's open records office.
Rendell's directive allows agencies under his control to charge "a reasonable fee" for searching for and retrieving documents when the new open records law takes effect Jan. 1. His directive also allows agencies to charge for redacting nonpublic information. Read the full article here.
New law makes it easier to request records in Pennsylvania
Pa. record copies limited to a quarter a page
November 22, 2008: Starting next year, citizens seeking copies of most public records in Pennsylvania won't be charged more than a quarter a page, under an order that the state's open-records chief plans to issue Monday.
"Nationally, duplication fees are one of the most abused areas of any government access law," said Terry Mutchler, director of the fledgling Office of Open Records. "Quite often, high fees are just another way to deny citizens access to their government." Read the full article here.
Bucks’ new 911 policy draws fire from lawyer
November 20, 2008: A media lawyer has found a long list of problems with Bucks County’s new policy regarding the release of 911 records — from the policy’s unclear definition of 911 records to its restrictions regarding time response logs and the fees it sets.
Melissa Melewsky, an attorney for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, also found fault with a provision in the policy that prohibits the release of records in cases where the Department of Emergency Communications or its employees have been accused of wrongdoing.
“It doesn’t matter if accusations are made…If it’s public, it’s public,” she said. Read the full article here.
CASD records to be available
November 17, 2008: Chambersburg Area School District is already preparing for the new year, due to a statewide change in record keeping that takes place on Jan. 1.
Updates to the current Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law will change how school districts and municipalities distribute information to the public and the news media.
The district is following the guidelines and recommendations set by the state to create a records management plan. Read the full article here.
New open-records law to go into effect in Pennsylvania
November 16, 2008: The law presumes all records, with noted exemptions, are public.
Proponents of a stronger Pennsylvania open-records law got a nice Valentine’s Day present this year.
Gov. Ed Rendell signed Act 3, the new law that is supposed to reinforce what’s largely considered one of the weakest open-records laws in the nation, on Feb. 14.
Now the last year under the old law is ending. A new office of open records has been setting training sessions throughout the state for representatives of government agencies. Read the full article here.
Inquirer, Daily News sue to open Nutter-Council talks
November 6, 2008: The owner of The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News sued Mayor Nutter and City Council President Anna C. Verna yesterday, alleging that reporters were illegally barred from a meeting at which the mayor discussed proposed budget cuts with Council members.
Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C. asked for an emergency order in Common Pleas Court minutes after reporters for both papers were kept from the meeting between Nutter and Council's 17 members at the Municipal Services Building. Read the full article here.
Police negotiation contracts have cost city $114,000
November 2, 2008: Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski has spent more than $114,000 on outside firms to assist in negotiations with the police union.
The mayor initially denied City Council's request for the same information, but provided it to members last week.
It was accompanied by a letter from city solicitor Jerry Snyder that said the information was "privileged and confidential and is not to be revealed to anyone other than council members."
Councilman Tony Phillips ignored those warnings and provided The Morning Call with the records Wednesday. Read the full article here.
Pennsylvania's open records law goes into effect Jan. 1
October 23, 2008: Pennsylvania's new open records law goes into full effect on Jan. 1. It dictates what government records should be available to the public and replaces a 1957 law that had been considered among the nation's weakest.
Terry Mutchler, director of the state's new Office of Open Records, which will oversee the law and settle disputes over records requests, answered these 12 questions about how it will work: Read the Q & A here.
Biglerville may impose fee for public record search
October 14, 2008: Searching for public records can take time and, unfortunately for municipalities, that equates to money for its employees.
To offset that cost, Biglerville Borough Council, at its meeting last week, discussed imposing a fee to residents who request hard-to-locate documents.
Currently, the borough charges residents 25-cents per photocopy, but has no other fees in place relating to the open records law. Read the full article here.
Open records law sheds light on state government
October 5, 2008: A new law that makes government records presumed accessible by the public until proven otherwise goes into full effect on Jan. 1.
“This law has a philosophy. You’re either pro-open government or you’re not,” said Terry Mutchler, executive director of the state’s new Office of Open Records.
In February, Gov. Ed Rendell signed into law a complete overhaul of the Right to Know – or open records – law, which guarantees the public’s right to access and obtain copies of public records held by government agencies. Read the full article here.
Republicans file complaint to get government records
October 4, 2008: Three Republicans running for county offices filed a complaint against Fieldsboro officials yesterday alleging they have not provided public records in a timely fashion.
Freeholders Aubrey Fenton and Stacey Jordan and Gary Woodend, the slate's candidate for county clerk, filed the complaint with the state Government Records Council and provided a copy to Mayor Ed “Buddy” Tyler. Read the full article here.
Right-to-Know policy updated
September 10, 2008: Delaware County Council updated its Right-To-Know Law policies and procedures during its first meeting in three weeks, coming in ahead of the curve for the rest of the state.
Local and state governments must comply with a new open records law crafted by the state Legislature by Jan. 1, 2009, but Delaware County's policies take effect immediately. Read the full article here.
County's property records rules may be eased
September 9, 2008: Allegheny County might ease restrictions on searching online property records. At least for some people.
Nearly a year after barring name searches from the county's real estate Web site, County Council is considering a proposal to allow some community groups to use them. The measure, set for introduction at tonight's meeting, would allow organizations doing "legitimate community development activities" to apply to search the records by name again.
Community groups hailed the effort, while legal experts questioned the reasoning of providing public records access only to certain groups. Read the full article here.
Cost of borough hall legal bills too high
September 7, 2008: The pricetag for business as usual in Pottstown Borough Hall is getting awfully high.
The costs to the borough taxpayer for legal bills to deal with lawsuits brought by employees and former employees has been more than $100,000 in the past three years, a review of borough legal bills has shown. And that number is just the tip of the iceberg, considering management hours and insurance premium costs that weigh into the personnel dilemmas that are at issue. Read the full editorial here.
State public-records gatekeeper to err on side of openness
September 2, 2008: The director of the new state Office of Open Records is criticizing parts of the law that created her department.
Terry Mutchler, a former Associated Press reporter overseeing the office that will handle appeals under the Right to Know Law, said she does not support sections of the law that set lower standards of openness for the Legislature than for other government agencies. Read the full article here.
Garner denies public's right to know contract's contents
August 28, 2008: Despite the Pottstown Borough Authority's unanimous vote, at a public meeting, to approve a contract to treat Pottstown Landfill's leachate at a publicly-owned sewer plant, the terms of that agreement are not for the public to know — at least not right away.
That was the legal opinion offered last week by David Garner, the solicitor for the authority as well as the president of Pottstown Borough Council. Read the full article here.
DeWeese getting advice from longtime GOP adviser
August 13, 2008: William J. Green, a Pittsburgh public relations consultant, has worked for House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese and the Democratic Caucus since last year, but the taxpayer-paid bills don't show up in leadership expense accounts. Read the full article here.
Boards still trying to hide open records
August 2, 2008: One of the reasons Pennsylvania’s outgoing Open Records Act was considered one of the weakest in the nation was that public officials could violate it with impunity knowing there was little likelihood there would be any repercussions.
So it is more than a little ironic — but no less satisfying — that a Delaware County Court judge not only ruled that the Radnor School District had to provide former school board member Judy Sherry with the documents she requested but also ordered the district to pay her attorney’s fee of $26,070 and court costs of $2,901. Read the full editorial here.
Judge vacates ruling on Radnor open records
July 30, 2008: A county judge has vacated his order requiring the Radnor School District to turn over documents related to 2007 salary increases for district administrators.
Judge Robert C. Wright did not elaborate on his reasons for voiding a June 30 ruling in favor of Judy Sherry of Radnor, who filed suit last summer when the school board refused to hand over a pair of documents it analyzed before voting for the raises. Read the full article here.
To see or not to see: New era in public records access
July 28, 2008: Terry Mutchler was named by Gov. Ed Rendell as the first executive director of the Office of Open Records. The office was created as part of the new open records law approved this year by the state Legislature. Most law provisions take effect in January 2009.
"I was very surprised that Pennsylvania had the presumption that records were closed," she recalled during a visit Wednesday to Monroe County. "I said, 'You have to change the presumption.' The burden should be on the agency all the way to say why records shouldn't be open." Read the full article here.
Pennsylvania creates online contract library
She said the state's new right-to-know law required creation of the database, known as the Pennsylvania Contracts e-Library.
Most of the law won't take effect until January, but the e-Library was launched at the beginning of the month on the treasury's Web site, www.treasurypa.org.Ex-school board member wins ruling on data
July 23, 2008: Salary studies used by the Radnor school board when it granted raises for administrators are public records, a Delaware County Court judge has ruled.
The decision by Robert C. Wright is the latest round in a dispute that began last year when former Radnor school board member Judy Sherry asked for the data. Read the full article here.
Municipal records: Open sesame
July 12, 2008: Though they both work in the public spotlight, Jamie Wolgemuth and Robin Getz are not particularly keen on seeing their names in newsprint.
But, they admit, that’s the price they must pay for earning taxpayer money.
“It’s not a pleasant thing to have your salary put in the paper, but when you work in the public eye or for the taxpayer, it’s always a possibility,” said Wolgemuth, who makes $82,687 annually as Lebanon County’s administrator. “It’s something every public employee knows going in. None of us should be ashamed to let the public know what we’re making.” Read the full article here.
12 charged in public corruption investigation
OJR meeting may have violated Sunshine Law
July 1, 2008: The June 19 closed-door executive session at which the Owen J. Roberts School Board discussed replacing resigning member Keith Fulmer with Karen Zelley violated Pennsylvania's Open Meetings Law, an expert in that law said Wednesday. Read the full story here.
Keep ball rolling on open records
June 20, 2008: The new Open Records Law was signed by Gov. Ed Rendell on Feb. 14. It will add transparency to government records when it takes effect Jan. 1, 2009. Two other bills that still are pending will make it even better.
Sen. Pat Browne, R- Lehigh County, introduced the PA Taxpayer Transparency Act in April. It would make details about the budget available to the public. It would create a database, searchable on the Internet, for people to look up all kinds of budget details. Read the full story here.
Officials learning new Pa. open records law
June 17, 2008: Pennsylvania is about to become more open, and municipal officials want to know how to deal with it.
Pennsylvania's new open records law, called the Right to Know Law, was signed in February 2008, bringing dramatic changes in both what is considered public and how requests will be evaluated. The new rules, which go into effect Jan. 1, 2009, bring the most sweeping changes to the state's open record's laws since they were first enacted in 1957. Read the full story here.
Documents ‘fire up’ controversy in Owego
June 13, 2008: The fire that recently destroyed several houses in Owego has stirred up controversy within the local government, because — according to reports — certain parties have been denied information in defiance of the Freedom of Information Act. Read the full story here.
