[Durham INC] County Attorney inappropriately keeping public records from the public?

[Melissa Rooney]

Please see the post from Tom Miller on the Indy blog below. 

http://wbx.me/l/?p=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indyweekblogs.com%2Ftriangulator%2F2009%2F11%2F16%2Fcommissioners-to-meet-on-protest-petition-thursday-morning%2F

I have asked the County Attorney’s office for a copy of the memo from the planning department to the board of commissioners. The attorney’s office has acknowledged that such a memo exists, but they have not agreed to release it to me. They assert that they have the right to take a day or more to study the memo to determine whether there is some basis in law to avoid giving me a copy.The Public Records Act declares that county government records belong to the people and that the county must make its records available for public inspection within a reasonable time, but nevertheless as soon as possible. Since they have identified the record in question, they cannot claim that delay is necessary to perform a search or copying. There is no exemption in the public records law for memos between the planning department and the board of commissioners. Even if the memo relates to real or possible litigation, such a memo is not protected. It is not a written
 communication from the board’s attorney to the commissioners or to a county agency. Those communications are protected. Written communications from the county planning staff to the manager or the board about a protest petition do not come under the limited attorney-client protections reposed in the law. To take more than a day to determine whether a single identified memo is covered or exempt from the requirements of the public records laws doesn’t seem reasonable to me.In the meantime, I’m still waiting….— Tom Miller 17 November 2009


      
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