Dealing With Massive Public Records Requests

It’s happening more and more frequently, in large and small jurisdictions across North Carolina. It may come by email, personal delivery, or even in a good old -fashioned letter, signed, sealed and delivered by snail mail. It’s the massive public records request. You know the ones: “copies of all emails send to or received by the manager and each member of the board on XYZ issue,” or “every email that mentions the name Jane M. Smith,” or “all records in whatever form or format, including documents, emails, voicemails and text messages made or received by the mayor during her last term of office [which lasted four years],” or “copies of all closed session minutes for the past ten years,” and so on.

What should you do? Where do you start? How long do you have to respond? What can you charge?

The answers to some of these questions are covered in previous blog posts, but for this post, I’ll suggest some basic steps that might provide a path through this jungle of questions.

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Query That! Public Records Requirements Regarding Database Queries

Looking to drum up new business, Tony Gazzo makes a public records request to the Rockyham County property tax office for a report listing the names, addresses, and amounts owed for all real property owners who are delinquent on their property taxes as of March 15, 2012. The property tax office maintains a database which includes all of this information. It periodically produces a report from the database that includes this information to aid the county in its collection efforts. It does not have a current report as of the date requested by Mr. Gazzo, though. In order to produce the report the county tax collector, Adrian Pennino, would have to run a query in the property tax database. Adrian recently participated in a School of Government workshop on public records and she remembers something about not having to create a record that does not already exist. In fact, she finds a reference to G.S. 132-6.2(e) in her notes, which states that “nothing in this section shall be construed to require a public agency to respond to a request for a copy of a public record by creating or compiling a record that does not exist.” Based on this statutory provision, Adrian refuses to create and produce the requested report. Mr. Gazzo is not that familiar with the state’s public records laws. (Although he is very interested in the School’s upcoming webinar series addressing common public records issues! More on that below.) He presses Adrian on her interpretation of the statute, though. In his opinion, because all of the information exists in the county’s database, Adrian would not be creating a new record. Rather she would be accessing existing records from the database by running a simple query.

What do you think? Does Adrian have to run the query to produce the report or does this fall outside the scope of what is required under the public records law in North Carolina? Read more »

Budgets and the Tax Collection Percentage

It’s budget time for local governments, and the fun should not be reserved just for finance and budget staffers.  Tax officials need to play an important role in the process, too.  

The Local Government Budget and Fiscal Control Act prohibits a local government from assuming a higher property tax collection percentage for next year than the percentage it experienced this year.  In other words, the budget may not be overly optimistic about how much of next year’s tax levy will result in actual dollars in the bank.  

Tax officials need to be involved in this process to ensure that the numbers used reflect reality. So, grab your calculators and follow along as I hit the highlights of the tax collection percentage calculation. Read more »

Targeting Troubled Neighborhoods for Housing Code Inspections

Along Broken Dreams Boulevard, not far from Main Street, an abandoned mill overlooks a troubled neighborhood. Once a thriving residential area with inexpensive mill housing (single family homes and duplexes), the neighborhood is now typical of a declining mill village. Many of the dwellings are substandard, owned primarily by absentee landlords who are either unable or unwilling to maintain their properties. The neighborhood’s decline has recently attracted the attention of local officials, who are in the midst of planning a comprehensive effort to clean up and revitalize the historic neighborhood.

While the planning process unfolds slowly, impatient community leaders demand immediate action in the interim. Specifically, they want the local inspections department to conduct a housing code inspection sweep of the entire neighborhood—immediately. Can the inspections department conduct a program of housing code inspections that targets this particular neighborhood? Read more »

Does the County Have to Comply with City Zoning?

Ralph Kramden is working his way through the morning paper, waiting for his second cup of coffee to kick in. He suddenly jumps up, knocking his coffee to the floor in the process. “Alice, did you see what those yahoos in the county did last night?” The query is to his wife of forty years, who has just joined him in the kitchen. ”Just look at this,” he shouts. “Those clowns want to build an animal shelter right behind us. They are going to drive me over the edge, Alice. One of these days, I tell you, one of these days. Are you going to let them get away with this? Can’t you do something?”

Alice takes a seat and skims the article that has Ralph so agitated. The article is a report on last night’s meeting of the board of county commissioners. Towards the end of the article is a mention that the county has obtained an option to purchase a vacant lot in town for the purpose of relocating and expanding its county animal shelter. The vacant lot in question just happens to back up to the Kramden property.

Since Alice is the town’s mayor, Ralph assumes she can do something about the county’s plans. Alice knows that this vacant lot is zoned for single-family residential use under the town zoning ordinance. She is pretty sure animal shelters are not a permitted use in this zoning district. But does the county have to comply with town zoning? She decides to call the town attorney to find out before Ralph breaks another coffee cup. Read more »

Form, Format, and Medium: How Must Electronic Records Be Provided?

The town’s governing board wants to be more transparent. They direct the clerk to post all agendas, attachments, minutes, and budgets on the town’s website.  The IT director, who manages the website, suggests that these documents should be converted to PDF format, and password-protected in order to prevent members of the public from modifying them.  After several weeks of posting this information, a citizen requests a copy of a power point presentation that was shown at a recent meeting. The request is for an electronic copy of the presentation “in native format”. The town board has concerns that the requester may want to modify the presentation, so the IT director recommends releasing it in PDF format only, or if it must be in native format, perhaps make it password protected. This would allow viewing but not modification.  What are the town’s legal obligations? Is it legal to convert the documents to PDF for posting? May the town alter the document before releasing it to protect against unauthorized modifications? Read more »

Limited Room for Referendums in North Carolina

Where to put the new landfill?  The county commissioners are feeling the pressure.  The site in the east will upset the folks in the Eastville area, and the site in the west will upset the Westoners.  One commissioner has an idea.  Put the question on the ballot at the next election and let the voters of county decide.  What could be more democratic?  Can they do that? Read more »