Public record requests up, city to post findings

By John Howell
Posted 3/29/16

Want to know the number of rescue calls at a specific address, whether buried oil and gas tanks have been removed from a property, or what a city pension fund earned in the past year?

All have …

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Public record requests up, city to post findings

Posted

Want to know the number of rescue calls at a specific address, whether buried oil and gas tanks have been removed from a property, or what a city pension fund earned in the past year?

All have been the subject of requests for information from the city since Judy Wild took on the job of city clerk last September. Since then, the city has responded to 198 requests for public documents. And as of yesterday, the city starting putting those request and the information provided in response online. That data can be accessed through the “City Clerk” tab on the city website.

Wild has become the gatekeeper for requests for city records. She said the fire and building departments receive the greatest number of requests. Many of these requests concern specific properties and whether they have undergone a change of zone, meet codes or undergone changes that would have required city action.

Up until recently, departments handled the requests and provided the information so long as it was public and obtainable. That hasn’t changed, only now requests are funneled to Wild, and once the department compiles the information she releases it.

Wild is sensitive to the law and reminds departments they have an outstanding request as the 10-day deadline for a response nears. It’s a time-consuming process that takes from an hour to three hours a day sorting through emails and request forms submitted to her office. That’s just part of it, she notes.

“That’s not counting the hours it takes compiling all this [the data requested],” she said. A recent request concerning Fire Department records took five hours to compile, she said.

What Wild is seeing is an increase in requests, according to Bruce Keiser of the mayor’s office. With a greater volume in demands, Keiser said the city looked for a way to centralize and track requests. As it turned out, he said, the city clerk is designated to do that. And without centralizing it, he said, “there was no way of knowing if we were complying with the law in a timely manner.”

“It prompted us to establish a collection point so we are responsible,” he said.

Wild took a step further. She researched how other municipalities handle public records requests and found that Charlestown posted the requests and the documentation provided on their website. At no additional cost in programming, she found Warwick could do the same thing.

Wild is hopeful the online information will reduce the hard copies produced by the city as well as the duplicative requests.

Not all requests can be filled, as the information is not available. Also, some requests are too broad or encompassing to answer without extended research. But she adds for some – like those seeking to determine whether tanks have been removed from a property, for example – it is a great savings of time.

The city charges 15 cents per page for research.

Wild didn’t have the specifics, but she said after requesting information and the city having provided it, many people have not retrieved it, nor paid the bill.

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  • Thecaptain

    Judy Wild does a fabulous job at answering requests and is diligent and complete with answering the request. She is expedient and should be commended for her hard work. It is not an easy job and she deals with numerous ------------(fill in the blank)

    Thank you Judy for your hard work.

    Rob Cote

    Tuesday, March 29, 2016 Report this