Published: October 24, 2009 11:52 pm      

Officials gain insight into public records law

CUMBERLAND — A state official told public information officers from three counties on Friday the Maryland Public Information Act is meant to help, and not hinder, the public’s access to documents.

But what seems reasonable to release to one person, such as a custodian of records, could be perceived quite differently to an information-seeking member of the general public. The state law governing the public’s right to access certain documents was created in 1970, modeled after the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The law represented, said William Varga, assistant state’s attorney general, “a radical change.” Still 40 years later, Varga said, government bodies and curious-minded individuals continue to take opposite sides on a law that “establishes a general policy in favor of public access.

“Sometimes, it’s interesting, depending on where you sit,” Varga said.

Before 1970 in the state, “there wasn’t a right to government records,” Varga said while speaking to more than two dozen officials from Garrett, Allegany and Frederick counties at the Allegany County Public Safety Building at Mexico Farms. “One couldn’t simply say, ‘I want to see records pertaining to ‘X’ and be given an agency’s file.”

Varga’s two-hour training seminar was a review of the fundamentals of state law regarding the Public Information Act for elections board members from Western Maryland and public information officers from local government, higher education, the public health and safety sector and correctional institutions.

Many requests submitted to area agencies pose questions that seek information, not a specific document. Varga said the problem is two-fold: the requestor probably doesn’t know how the agency’s records are kept and the agency might not fully understand what information the requestor wants.

And technology continues to move faster than the law. E-mails have been a particular source of consternation for many, whether in favor of public access or not.

“E-mails raise interesting questions,” Varga said. “It’s amazing to me what people put in e-mails.”

Varga said his advice: if it’s not information a public official would put on agency letterhead, don’t send it in an e-mail.

“You never know where an e-mail is going to end up,” Varga said. “You really have to think about what public records you’re creating in the course of a work day.”

Bill Valentine, a Little Orleans resident and candidate for county commissioner in the 2010 election, filed a Public Information Act request to Allegany County government in late September. Among other things, Valentine asked for “complete job description, salary and description of fringe package” for the position of all three commissioners, commissioner staff and finance department employees.

Under state law, a government body has up to 30 days to fulfill a request for information. On the 30th day — in the middle of the afternoon, less than two hours before the county office was to close for the day — Valentine received a letter telling him the information he sought was ready. The time required by staff to gather the information was only two and one-half hours.

Did Allegany County government violate the Public Information Act?

“Maybe, maybe not,” said Varga, who was provided the scenario without names or government bodies involved.

Varga said it’s possible that county staff did not have time to devote toward the request. Other factors also could have delayed the timely processing of Valentine’s request. But he noted the information presented in the scenario might fall under the “readily available information” section of the law.

“If it’s a simple request that can be provided immediately ... why put somebody through the headaches,” Varga said. “Just give them the document.”

Only a handful of the agencies represented indicated their office had established rules for handling Public Information Act requests. After Friday’s session, “hopefully I’ll see a lot more hands” in the air next year, Varga said.

Dick DeVore, chief of the Allegany County Emergency Management Division, said the seminar showed the delicate balance between distributing public information “within the confines of what the law says” and “respecting the fact that some information is not available to be disseminated to the public.

“This training goes a long way to helping us to sort that out,” DeVore said.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.