passopenrecords.org

• Wagner calls school district’s confidential agreement a “waste of taxpayer dollars.”

State Auditor General Jack Wagner took issue last week with Peters Township School District’s separation agreement with its superintendent, saying such agreements are a “waste of taxpayer dollars.”

The school board recently approved an agreement with Superintendent Timm Mackley, releasing him from the last two years of his four-year contract. He will receive a full salary and retain his title until he gets another job or until July, whichever comes sooner, plus a $123,573 cash payout.

His duties have been taken over by former West Mifflin Superintendent Joseph Dimperio, who will serve on a temporary basis at $500 a day until a replacement is found.

But, while most parents seemed satisfied with the separation agreement, Mr. Wagner criticized the expenditure of public funds for a private agreement.

He said there should not have been a confidentiality agreement with Dr. Mackley. “The public has a right to know what happened,” Mr. Wagner said.

In previous audits of the Mt. Lebanon and Derry Township school districts, Mr. Wagner was critical of the secretive nature of their early buyout agreements, advising school districts to avoid confidentiality agreements and long-term contracts with new superintendents.

Mr. Wagner reiterated his call for the General Assembly to craft legislation that would address what is becoming an ever-increasing trend among school districts.

In November 2006, Pittsburgh Public Schools paid $213,000 in a similar private agreement with a deputy superintendent.
“The bottom line is, this is public money,” Mr. Wagner said. “There should be sunshine, there should be transparency where there is public money.”

superintendent search team that hired the “optimal” candidate, and his role on the school board when the district won several high-profile awards.

• Private companies doing government business are subject to new open records law.

Buried in the revised Right to Know law signed recently by Gov. Edward Rendell is a provision that opens the records of some private companies to the public.

The new law, which goes into effect in January, assumes that most government records are public, whereas the previous law placed this burden of proof on the business or individual requesting the information.

As it turns out, many private companies perform government functions under contract to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Some of the things that private companies do for the state include running computer systems and Web sites, and building and repairing roads and bridges. The revised law says private entities that have contracts to perform a government function will be required to disclose their records.

No one knows yet how the courts and the Office of Open Records are going to interpret the revised law. But it is expected that private companies performing government functions will have to reveal only those records related to the work they are doing for the state.

Diana Leech, Meyer Unkovic & Scott

• Police chief ordered to withhold record.

When Wilkins resident John Frank visited Wilkins police department last week seeking a copy of a police report from 1999 that listed a phone call he made to the department concerning sewer problems he was experiencing at his home, he was “outright denied” a copy, said Frank’s attorney John Linkowsky.

“It was the strangest thing. He had requested copies of the police report several months ago…. When he went last week to pick up a copy, he was refused the report,” Linkowsky said.
Wilkins police Chief Keith Guthrie said township officials instructed him not to turn over a copy of the report, as he would do in most cases.

Guthrie said when a resident requests a copy of a report, if someone in the department is available, all the resident has to do is pay a $15 fee and verbally request a copy in order to receive it.

In this case, Guthrie said, he was “ordered not to give it to him,” receiving no explanation as to why.

“The way I look at it, everybody should be treated the same,” he said.

The chief said he “felt Frank should be able to have the document” because the Open Records Law states police reports should be made open to the public.

Linkowsky agreed.

“This is absolutely not right. This is a public record.”

Frank filed a lawsuit against the township in 2006, seeking damages for sewer problems at his home in 2004, which the case states township officials were aware of.

Linkowsky said Frank being denied the records probably had something to do with the lawsuit.

“I’m 100 percent certain the township’s initial refusal was caused by that lawsuit.”

Township solicitor Gary Matta said this is not the case.

“Anytime, with the public records act, you can give it to them immediately, or you can have time to make copies or do whatever you like…. There’s litigation going on and the insurance company’s counsel had asked me to make sure if there was a request for any documents, that he was aware of it.”

Matta said there were previous issues where, “Mr. Frank’s attorney directly contacted the municipality and talked with the adverse party that has council.”

Because of this issue, he wanted to “make certain that they were public documents.”

Matta said he forwarded a copy of the document to Linkowsky and the law was never violated.

Rebecca Bradley, township manager, said township officials “typically try to be as accommodating as possible” and that this “isolated incident has more to do with the attorney’s handling of the case.”

Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said township officials have five business days to respond to a request for public documents and are allowed to charge a reasonable fee.

“Routinely, with public documents, you’re required to respond as quickly as possible, but they do have up to five days to make this response.”