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Walton clerk added to public records lawsuit
June 22, 2009 12:28 PM
Florida Freedom News
A lawsuit filed in mid-April against the Walton County Commission alleging violations of publicrecords law has been amended to add Walton Clerk of Court Martha Ingle as a defendant. Ingle’s addition to the lawsuit — which previously named the commission as a single entity rather than the commissioners as individuals — came “at the request of (the county),” said attorney Matt Gaetz. He filed the lawsuit on behalf of Suzanne Harris, president of the Edgewater Beach Owners’ Association.
He added that county attorney Mike Burke told him that Ingle was both “indispensible” to the lawsuit and a “willing party.”
The amended complaint contains no new allegations, Gaetz said, and was “more administrative than substantive.”
“Their position … was that the clerk is responsible for maintaining all of the records of the county commissioners,” he said. “It’s our view of the law that each public official has an independent duty to preserve their records ... . Our position continues to be that the county officials have a duty to ensure their messages aren’t being deleted. They can’t shuffle that burden to the clerk.”
Meanwhile, the county has 20 days to reply to the amended complaint.
The original lawsuit, which was filed on April 16, alleges that the county does not maintain public records in accordance with Florida’s Sunshine laws.
A hearing is scheduled for July 17.
The issue stems from a lawsuit filed in September 2008 on behalf of the Edgewater Beach Owners’ Association. The complaint, which lists as defendants County Administrator Ronnie Bell and the county, claims items that the homeowners left on the beach overnight were illegally being collected and thrown away.
Association President SuzanneHarrisfiledpublicrecords requests for copies of both electronic and hard-copy records of e-mails related to the so-called Leave No Trace ordinance, which regulates what can and cannot be left on the beach overnight.
In an interview Friday, before he had seen the amended complaint, Burke said that the county did not comply with the request because it was too cumbersome and time-consuming for the staff — especially since “she wanted copies of every single e-mail that contained the word ‘beach’ or ‘Beaches of South Walton.’ ”
“We told her, ‘We’ll get our computer guys over here to get you a password that’s good for 30 days. Have at it, but we’re not going to do it for you,’ ” he said.
The request ended there.
Gaetz said he does not recall ever receiving a password, but either way, simply providing a password does not show much of an effort on the county’s part.
“A good analogy would be if you were requesting documents from the United States government and the United States government tosses you the keys to the Library of Congress,” he added. “It’s our view of the law that the county has to work with somebody (who is) requesting public records. If some words generated too many results, the county’s obligated to say, ‘Alter this term,’ or, ‘Take out this phrase’ … How is a regular citizen going to be able to test the legitimacy of government decisions?”
As to the allegation in the latest lawsuit that the computers in district offices are not connected to central servers — meaning anybody in a district office can delete e-mails that will then be purged one month later from the entire system — Burke said that is not true.
If the individual commissioners’ computers were not connected to the main server, they would not even have the ability to send and receive e-mail.
“The files are all archived by the clerk’s office and stored on big, huge servers,” he added. “They’re there somewhere. They just have to go look for them.”
But Gaetz said that while some individual correspondence is archived and available for public review, he believes the commissioners were drafting revisions to the Leave No Trace ordinance, and those drafts should also be available.
He added that county attorney Mike Burke told him that Ingle was both “indispensible” to the lawsuit and a “willing party.”
The amended complaint contains no new allegations, Gaetz said, and was “more administrative than substantive.”
“Their position … was that the clerk is responsible for maintaining all of the records of the county commissioners,” he said. “It’s our view of the law that each public official has an independent duty to preserve their records ... . Our position continues to be that the county officials have a duty to ensure their messages aren’t being deleted. They can’t shuffle that burden to the clerk.”
Meanwhile, the county has 20 days to reply to the amended complaint.
The original lawsuit, which was filed on April 16, alleges that the county does not maintain public records in accordance with Florida’s Sunshine laws.
A hearing is scheduled for July 17.
The issue stems from a lawsuit filed in September 2008 on behalf of the Edgewater Beach Owners’ Association. The complaint, which lists as defendants County Administrator Ronnie Bell and the county, claims items that the homeowners left on the beach overnight were illegally being collected and thrown away.
Association President SuzanneHarrisfiledpublicrecords requests for copies of both electronic and hard-copy records of e-mails related to the so-called Leave No Trace ordinance, which regulates what can and cannot be left on the beach overnight.
In an interview Friday, before he had seen the amended complaint, Burke said that the county did not comply with the request because it was too cumbersome and time-consuming for the staff — especially since “she wanted copies of every single e-mail that contained the word ‘beach’ or ‘Beaches of South Walton.’ ”
“We told her, ‘We’ll get our computer guys over here to get you a password that’s good for 30 days. Have at it, but we’re not going to do it for you,’ ” he said.
The request ended there.
Gaetz said he does not recall ever receiving a password, but either way, simply providing a password does not show much of an effort on the county’s part.
“A good analogy would be if you were requesting documents from the United States government and the United States government tosses you the keys to the Library of Congress,” he added. “It’s our view of the law that the county has to work with somebody (who is) requesting public records. If some words generated too many results, the county’s obligated to say, ‘Alter this term,’ or, ‘Take out this phrase’ … How is a regular citizen going to be able to test the legitimacy of government decisions?”
As to the allegation in the latest lawsuit that the computers in district offices are not connected to central servers — meaning anybody in a district office can delete e-mails that will then be purged one month later from the entire system — Burke said that is not true.
If the individual commissioners’ computers were not connected to the main server, they would not even have the ability to send and receive e-mail.
“The files are all archived by the clerk’s office and stored on big, huge servers,” he added. “They’re there somewhere. They just have to go look for them.”
But Gaetz said that while some individual correspondence is archived and available for public review, he believes the commissioners were drafting revisions to the Leave No Trace ordinance, and those drafts should also be available.
