Taveras Admin. Fails to Comply with Freedom of Information Request
Monday, June 24, 2013
The Administration of Angel Taveras has been ignoring -- and failing to respond completely -- to requests for travel information relating to travel costs for Commissioner of Public Safety Steven Pare.
GoLocalProv.com has filled a formal complaint with the Rhode Island Attorney General.
Last year, legislative changes were made to Rhode Island's open records law, the Access to Public Records Act, to help citizens gain greater access to public records, in a timely manner. Included is the mandate that a government agency has ten days to respond a request, or ask for a 20 day extension.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"We've gotten some isolated reports on information being withheld, especially with police records," said John Marion, with Common Cause of Rhode island. "What used to be routine is now being redacted."
"I've heard from reporters that when they've pushed back [for the info request], then they've gotten it. "
Response Time to Public Records Request Called Into Question
On Friday, May 24, GoLocal submitted a request for information pursuant to the Access to Public Records act for information regarding Providence Police Commissioner of Public Safety Steve Pare's travel for the last three years, including:
* Copies of all travel dates in state and out of state for the Commissioner of Public Safety
* Reason for the travel; cost of the travel whether paid by the city or another government, non-profit or for profit entity
* Copies of all expense reports, including all information about travel costs, and list of hotels and restaurants.
As of Monday, June 10th, GoLocal had not received acknowledgement or receipt of request for information from the City, and notified the Attorney General's office of the City's lack of response up until that point, including no confirmation of receipt of the request.
"This type of stalling and non-responsiveness is in violation of the law and against the best interest of the residents of Providence and the State of Rhode Island," GoLocal wrote to the Attorney General.
The City sent an e-mailed response at 5:20 PM on June 10, acknowledging the request and providing 60 pages of information including hotel and airfare receipts. However, not believing that the information sent by the City contained the entirety of the information requested, GoLocal responded to the Mayor's Office, indicating that the response provided did not appear to meet the APRA ask in full.
Incomplete Information Acknowledged by City
On June 11, GoLocal responded to the e-mail as sent by the Mayor's Office, asking, "Is the material sent yesterday in full compliance with the request sent on May 24th (per our complaint filled with the Attorney General's Office on June 10th)? We appreciate your immediate response."
On June 12, the Mayor's Office acknowledged that the information sent on June 10 was incomplete.
"This office is in receipt of your email in which you seek clarification regarding whether the material sent on June 10 was in "full compliance with the FOIA request sent on May 24th (per our complaint filled with the Attorney General's Office on June 10).
The June 10 letter and attachments were provided in response to your May 24 request for records, attached to this email. The Public Records Unit believed that it was providing a full and complete response to that request. In light of your email, further inquiry was conducted and additional responsive documents have been discovered. Accordingly, please accept this supplemental response to your May 24 request for records and kindly note that these documents have been redacted in a manner similar to those provided on June 10."
GoLocal subsequently addressed the City's second response, again questioning whether the information contained in the documents was in fact complete. While a number of out of state trips were listed for national conferences, regional travel or mileage did not appear to be reflected, not did the requests for meals and entertainment spending costs -- and who paid for the travel.
Is APRA Working?
"I think it will be quite a while before we know," said John Marion with Common Cause. "I'm convinced it will be years to see the trends, as well as some lawsuits, because in the end it's the courts that will dictate this."
Nnoting that his work was more focused on private citizens' access to APRA, Marion continued, "It's one thing if you're the press and ask for something, it's another thing if you're an average citizen. The law's written in such a way that you don't need to actually invoke it in name to request information, again, to help the average citizen."
"I think that the press still uses APRA the most," Marion. "In the end, the better journalists are able to use it, the better it benefits the public."
Steve Brown with the ACLU concurred that monitoring APRA compliance would take time.
"Last year's enacted bill made a number of important changes to the open records law. It expanded the types of records that are available to the public, eased the procedures for making requests for records, required training of officials and employees on the law's mandates, and increased the penalties for violations of the law," said Brown. "However, it is still too early for us to determine the full impact of the revisions on agency compliance."
Brown continued, "We have found that the most common violations of APRA are often the most basic ones, such as failing to respond to a request in a timely manner. This is, of course, very troubling."
See copy of the Attorney General's Office letter in response to GoLocal's complaint here.
TIMELINE:
May 24, 2013: GoLocalProv submitted a request for certain documents and records regarding Commissioner Pare's travel.
June 7, 2013: (10 days after the date of submitting the request and the date City of Providence is required by State Law to respond) GoLocalProv followed up by email requesting the documents.
June 10, 2013: GoLocalProv again emailed the City of Providence.
June 10, 2013: GoLocalProv filled a complaint with Attorney General Peter Kilmartin's Office asking for an investigation of a violation of the PUBLIC RECORDS - ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS Law in RI.
June 10, 2013: The City of Providence emailed limited documents in response to the request at 5:20 PM.
June 11, 2013: GoLocalProv responded to the City of Providence, saying it did not appear the information requested was provided in full.
June 11, 2013: The City of Providence responded that it had overlooked certain documents upon review, and sent additional information.
June 12, 2013: GoLocalProv responded to the City's second correspondence, again stating that the APRA request
June 19, 2013: The RI Attorney General's Office sent a letter in response to GoLocalProv acknowledging receipt of complaint -- and that was sending investigation to legal counsel.
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