Sunshine Week:
March 14 thru 20 of 2010.
"Sunshine"
may make it possible, but it is only YOU, the people who can make
open government a reality. Few have said it any clearer than Attorney
General Eric Holder, "The American people have the right to
information about their government's activities, and these new
guidelines will ensure they are able to obtain that information under
principles of openness and transparency," (from the Sunshine
Week reading room: Federal FOIA Guidelines Bring Back Presumption of
Openness, par3; from http://www.sunshineweek.org/ReadingRoom.aspx,
last accessed 3/12/10).
Laws, such as the
Freedom of Information Act, provide citizens with the right to access
information. However, you cannot expect your government to simply
start handing out any and all information. You need to ask for it,
and you need to be specific in your request.
Many of the
documents that are created by all levels of government are kept for
years (in some cases forever). Not everyone knows that these
documents even exist. If you live within the Commonwealth of
Virginia, you can find out exactly what documents are required to be
kept and for how long by going to the website of the Library
of Virginia: Retention Schedules. Three links are provided at the
bottom of the page for (1) Glossary, (2) General Schedules for
Virginia Localities, and (3) General Schedules for State Agencies.
The Glossary
can provide you some information to help you in understanding the
schedules themselves.
The General
Schedules for Virginia Localities is a list of all of the groups of
documents that are required to be maintained at the City, County, and
Town levels of government. By clicking on the link to one of those
groups, you will be directed to a document that will give you details
types of documents (including a brief description) within that group
and information on how long they are required to be maintained. (I
will provide some examples of this below.)
The General
Schedules for State Agencies provides a list of the groups of
documents which are required to be maintained at the State level and
clinking one of those links will take you to a list of the documents
with a brief description and information on how long they must be
held before they can be disposed of by the Agency.
I am most
familiar with the Virginia Localities schedule because the access and
use of public documents is the primary information source that I use
for blogs. This is how I use this resource:
If I am trying to
find out about land use issues, I go to the Records Management
Locality General Schedules and scan the list. There, I find that
GS-05 is the Group number for Land Use, Land Development and Public
Works. I click on that link and it takes me to a document entitled:
RECORDS
RETENTION AND DISPOSITION SCHEDULE GENERAL SCHEDULE NO. 06 COUNTY AND
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS LAND USE, LAND DEVELOPMENT, AND PUBLIC WORKS.
The
first page gives some of the basic information for records retention
and disposition. (Since I have read that about a gazillion times by
now, I scroll down to the next page and start looking at the list.
The
first entry you will see is in the left hand column and contains:
"Agreements,
Bonds, and Contracts,"
directly below it is a brief description of some of the documents
included within this category "This series consists of
agreements, contracts, and bonds relating to professional services
and construction. This series may include but is not limited to:
surety, bonds, correspondence, letters of credit, and public/private
agreements. There is a series Number in the center column which is
used by the jurisdiction for filing procedures. The right-hand column
contains information on how long the records must be maintained. In
this case that is "Retain 5 years after completion of legal
terms then destroy in compliance with No. 8 on the schedule cover
page". You will note that No. 8 on the schedule cover page
refers you back to that first page of the document. There you will
find that No. 8 states "Custodians
of records must ensure that information in confidential or privacy
protected records is protected from unauthorized disclosure through
the ultimate destruction of the information. Normally, destruction of
confidential or privacy-protected records will be done by shredding
or pulping. "Deletion" of confidential or privacy-protected
information in computer files or other electronic storage media is
not acceptable. Electronic records must be "wiped" clean or
the storage media physically destroyed."
The
issue of privacy deals with those items for which there are
exclusions to the Freedom of Information Act. For more information,
the easiest and quickest source I have found is to go to the Virginia
Coalition for Open Government website and use the 2009-2010
Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Here you will find the text
of the Act listed by each section. In this particular example,
concerning contracts, 'proprietary records and trade secrets' be an
issues. Those are found in the list as: "§
2.2-3705.6. Exclusions to application of chapter;
proprietary records and trade secrets."
(By the way, this is something that I have learned by using the
system. Experience is, indeed, a wonderful teacher.)
Scroll
down the page and you will find the full next of the Virginia Freedom
of Information Act. This section is too long for me to cut and paste
here. One example from this list is "3.
Confidential proprietary records, voluntarily provided by private
business pursuant to a promise of confidentiality from a public
body used by the public body for business, trade and tourism
development or retention; and memoranda, working papers or other
records related to businesses that are considering locating or
expanding in Virginia, prepared by a public body, where competition
or bargaining is involved and where, if such records are made public,
the financial interest of the public body would be adversely
affected. "
In fact, it is pretty much the same types of stuff that cause public
bodies to require those occasional 'closed session' to discuss.
Another
example concerns the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995 and
the Public Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of
2002. "11. a. Memoranda, staff evaluations, or other records
prepared by the responsible public entity, its staff, outside
advisors, or consultants exclusively for the evaluation and
negotiation of proposals filed under the Public-Private
Transportation Act of 1995 (§ 56- 556 et seq.) or the Public
Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002 (§
56-575.1 et seq.), where (i) if such records were made public prior
to or after the execution of an interim or a comprehensive
agreement, § 56-573.1:1 or 56-575.17 notwithstanding, the
financial interest or bargaining position of the public entity would
be adversely affected, and (ii) the basis for the determination
required in clause (i) is documented in writing by the
responsible public entity; and"...
Now,
wandering back to the Library
of Virginia's Land Use, land Development, and Public Works Section,
you will find a lot of other information that you may find useful:
Building
Records: Inspection and Permit Files:
This series consists of commercial and residential building,
electrical, mechanical, storage tank/container, and/or plumbing
applications; drawings; issued permits; supporting documentation;
and inspections -- Retain 3 years after issuance of the Certificate
of Occupancy or equivalent then destroy in compliance with No. 8 on
the schedule cover page.
Capital
Improvement:
This series consists of construction and building maintenance
records pertaining to local government projects. -- Retain for the
life, both active and inactive, of the improvement then destroy.
Code
Enforcement:
This series consists of complaints, notices of violations, record of
action taken, correspondence, departmental comments, and supporting
documentation -- Retail 3 years after resolution then destroy in
compliance with No. 8 on the schedule cover.
Development
Files:
This series consists of, but is not limited to, approved and
as-built land development, commercial site plan, calculations, and
subdivision construction -- Retain permanently.
Development
files: Supporting Documentation:
This series consists of records used to develop property including
but not limited to: drawings, temporary easements, plans, plats,
maps, correspondence, departmental comments and related studies used
to develop property. -- Retain 5 years after final approval then
destroy.
Environmental
Files:
This series consists of, but is not limited to, records pertaining
to erosion and sediment control, storm water, and the Chesapeake Bay
Watershed. -- Refer to 000303, "Development Files" and/or
000304, "Development Files - Supporting Documentation."
That
should be enough to get the general idea. I hope some of you will
take the opportunity to check out these valuable online resources. If
you are trying to find out information and need to request certain
documents, the Library of Virginia offers a great source to find out
what should be available before you go and ask for the documents.
Additionally, if you are making a FOIA request, knowing as much about
the specific documents available as you can find out, will help
prevent you from having to pay for copies of unnecessary/unrelated
documents and minimizes the work that staff will have to do to
provide the documents.
Oh...I
found some new stuff: Under Administrative Records: RECORDS
RETENTION AND DISPOSITION SCHEDULE GENERAL SCHEDULE NO. 04 COUNTY AND
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS COUNTY, CITY, AND TOWN ADMINISTRATION RECORDS
BOARDS OF SUPERVISORS AND CITY/TOWN COUNCILS :
Citizen Complaint Files: This series documents citizen
complaints, preliminary investigations, findings, background
material, and responses. -- Retain 1 year after last action then
destroy in compliance with No. 8 on schedule cover page. (This would
be a useful tool for Town Council to utilize. Although only held for
1 year, a routine review by Town Council could help to identify
patterns.)
Citizen Petitions:
This series documents receipt of a petition from citizens,
preliminary research, and responses. Code
of Virginia
§14.2-301 -- Retain permanently in locality.
Correspondence/Subject Files - Boards/Councils -
Chairpersons: This series
documents incoming and outgoing letters, memoranda, faxes, notes,
and their attachments, in any physical format including, but not
limited to, paper and e-mail -- Retain in agency 5 years then
transfer records to the Archives, Library of Virginia for permanent
retention. Archives may purge records in accordance with standard
archival practices.
Index to Minutes:
This series consists of paper, microfilm, or electronic indexes of
contents of board of supervisors or city/town council minutes. --
Retain permanently.
Ahh....so little time, so many
questions. I hope that you enjoy exploring your rights and learning
more about your government.