passopenrecords.org

Some people still seem to wonder whether and how the refusal of so many public agencies in Pennsylvania to release public records affects them personally. As Deborah Musselman of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association said not long ago, “It sounds like a philosophical issue until something goes wrong in your community.”

Take Coatesville, for example.

Jennifer Miller, a staff writer for the West Chester Daily Local News, has been reporting for about a year on the machinations of that city’s public officials and their penchant for meeting behind closed doors, withholding information from the public and the press, and seeming to consider public records to be private property.

The latest issue involves the contract of the newly hired chief of police, who was hired after a tumultuous and divisive process. None of that seemed to end after the chief, William Matthews, was hired. In fact Miller wrote in the newspaper’s May 24th lead story,

“Matthews has only been on board for a matter of weeks, but has already generated controversy. He helped design a police department reorganization plan that involves laying off six police officers and putting detectives on patrol.

“Less than a week after the Daily Local News reported the layoff proposal, administrators retreated from the plan.

“The layoff plan caused significant concern among local, county and state law enforcement officials, who believed cutting cops would put residents and officers in dangers.”

What’s all this have to do with open records? Well, among a host of other things, the new chief’s contract was treated as a state – or at least a city – secret. It took Miller roughly a month to get a copy.

Before City Council voted on the contract, residents asked that it be read aloud. But the city solicitor argued that the contract was not a public document. When the Daily Local News reported that the city would not release a copy of the contract, the solicitor fired off letter to the editor that claimed that, before council’s vote, the contract was only a draft – and therefore not a public document. The contract, he wrote, was only to be considered public after council had voted to approve it. So, after the vote, the Daily Local News followed the city’s procedure and requested a copy of the contract in writing. The city did not respond in writing, and it was only after repeated calls to staff and the solicitor that the city finally made the contract available. The process took about a month.

The chief, by the way, makes $83,000. I imagine that is considerably less than Joe Paterno makes at Penn State, but to be honest, I really don’t know . . .because Paterno’s salary really does seem to be a state secret.

Over the past year, which is how long she has been on the beat, Miller said she has battled with the city to obtain public documents. Sometimes administrators would argue that a document – like a proposed budget – was not public. Usually, the city requested the additional 30 days “to determine if such information is available.” Usually those deadlines passed without the request being met. Usually, it was only after the newspaper reported the issue and cited the state’s open records law that Coatesville produced the documents.

Several residents have told Miller that, when documents are not readily available and they – or the media – have to go to great lengths to see them, it creates a perception that the city is trying to hide something. Whether the city is actually trying to hide something or not, the perception is there. And that perception puts the public at odds with its government.