New Orleans erects info barrier for citizens, City Council

New Orleans CityBusiness, Feb 18, 2008 by Jaime Guillet

City officials are violating state public records law with a policy requiring citizens to make all public records request in writing.

City Council members, residents and the media are regularly barred from public information on city activities or the turnaround time takes far longer than the prescribed three days.

The Public Records Act of Louisiana mandates city officials must turn over public documents, with few exceptions, within 72 hours. If city officials can't comply in 72 hours, they need to respond in writing and explain why they can't furnish the documents within the same time frame.

Mayor C. Ray Nagin's office referred all questions to the New Orleans city attorney, who defends the protective public records policy.

"This has been an existing policy that can be verified as far back as 1994, when Avis Russell was appointed city attorney," said City Attorney Penya Moses-Fields in an e-mailed statement. "It is understood based on the interpretation of Louisiana Public Records Law ... and adopted by the city of New Orleans in Section 2-773 of the New Orleans Code that public records requests should be in writing and routed through our office in order that the request and related documents could be reviewed for any privileged or exempt material.

"In addition, it was deemed to be important that in the event that there was pending litigation with the city that this office be appraised of the fact and be aware of what materials had been provided to opposing parties."

Dave Woolridge, general counsel for the Louisiana Press Association, said state public records law "contemplates John Q. Public (or) media coming in off the street to inspect public records and, if they're not being used, to be made immediately available."

"(The statute) does not contemplate that everything has to be in writing. That's just not right," said Woolridge. "The beauty of the statute is that it contemplates records requests not being some long drawn-out process. I believe it is a violation of state public records law to require every request be in writing."

The municipal code Moses-Fields cites states only "when citizens make a request to review public documents, city officials and employees should respond with courtesy and as expeditiously as possible within the requirements of the state Public Records Law."

Complaints about the city's slow return on public information run the gamut. Residents say requesting records from the city is tough because there are zero instructions regarding the format of the written request on the city Web site.

"The city is claiming a process but I haven't seen it," said Matthew McBride, a mechanical engineer who volunteers for the New Orleans Preservation Resource Center. "They don't give you any information and a form is not on the Web site."

McBride, through his work with the PRC, often reviews demolition contracts. The public records issue is one example of the city's frequent withholding of public information, he said.

"What we've also found is they don't follow requests for Housing Conservation District Review Committee agendas," McBride said. "They routinely don't send it. And a contract should not be hard to find, particularly if it's for multimillion dollars."

City Council members also claim it's hard to get public information from the city amid a general closed-door atmosphere.

"I think there's a real problem with the fact the City Attorney's office does not turn over documents as quickly as they should through FOIA requests," said District B Councilwoman Stacy Head. "During the budget process, part of the reason they were justifying their budget and their fairly large number of city attorneys was they expected a three-day turnaround on (public records) requests. I understand from the media and from some of my constituents they're not turning documents around like that."

Head said she and other Council members are independently providing documents.

"I think if it's public money, it ought to be transparent unless ... it can't be disclosed because of a privacy issue," said Head.

"We need to be extremely transparent," said Councilwoman at- large Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson. "I expect to get anything I ask for and I expect an immediate response."

Timely disclosure of public documents is the norm in most cities, said Maurice McTigue, director of the government accountability project for George Mason University's Mercatus Center.

"Departments and agencies are expected to comply with the spirit of the law as well as the written word of the law," said McTigue. "A blanket decision is normally not proper. My guess is (city officials) have decided the release of public information is sometimes embarrassing and they should discourage it. That's not really an appropriate attitude for a public official."

McBride is so worn down by the process he did not bother to request records in some instances. He said retrieving public records should not be so difficult.

"When does the city start working for the people?" McBride asked.