Public records requests to NC government, universities drag on for months
By Joseph Neff, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
But reporters at
The delays mean the public lacks timely insight into how public dollars are being spent and how public servants are fulfilling their duties.
Soon after taking office, Gov.
The governor made it clear that he wanted to move
When Steckel abruptly resigned in September,
Six months later, the department has yet to produce a single email.
There is no dispute that emails sent in the course of public business are public records. In fact, there's a standard template for state
"We do want to turn requests around as promptly as possible," Howell said. "All records have to be reviewed individually to protect confidentiality."
But others who have done Howell's job said records requests should be filled in days or weeks, not six months or more.
"Good Lord no, that's ridiculous," said
When providing email for a public records request, state employees typically complained that there was confidential information mixed in their emails.
"You shouldn't be putting a patient's name or
It does take time, Crane said. Somebody does have to read the emails, but that should take a matter of weeks, not months.
Crane said the longest lag time during her tenure was six weeks. Crane was fired from her job at DHHS in 2008 amid the fallout of a News & Observer series critical of mental health reforms under the administration of former Gov.
More at DHHS
In August, WRAL reporter
The backlog grew so severe that the
Dukes requested the emails of NC FAST Director
"Responding in a timely way to the requests is crucial to holding this agency accountable," Dukes said. "It's difficult to do when we are waiting so long for this."
The reporter,
"We did try to narrow the requests, and we had a protracted set of negotiations," Elliston said. "Still, it did take a long time."
There are 24 positions in the
Withholding an audit
In September, officials at
The university refused to say who was leading that review, even though it is public record. In December, The N&O sought records about the review itself, including any memos or other correspondence.
A spokeswoman for the university,
One of the paper's readers,
The week of
Hall, a 79-year-old retiree, mailed the audit to
On
On
The internal review was dated
Becton said he had not wanted the report released until it was "final." It is well-settled law in
Becton added in the interview that he had hoped to produce the document simultaneously with an ongoing state audit. That state audit was released Thursday.
Becton, a former judge on the state
A nine-month wait
On
On
Spokeswoman
On Friday afternoon, Moon released information on the two professors and said the university was "unable to locate a class time or location for these courses."
In the past, the university has blamed a personnel shortage for being slow with records requests.
UNC Board of Governors Chairman
"My sense is the legal process (for producing information) is more difficult than it appears, but it shouldn't be this hard with the long gaps between requests and responses, and the uneven nature of responses from (UNC) institutions," Hans said. Staff writers
Neff: 919-829-4516
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