Today is the last day of Sunshine Week, and The Era took some
time to ask local officials and the Pennsylvania Newspaper
Association (PNA) in Harrisburg about the difference between open
and closed documents, the Sunshine Act and the Right to Know
Law.
Teri Henning, PNA’s media law counsel, explained that Sunshine
Week is meant to highlight concerns and problems that exist across
the country in respect to access to government and government
documents.
“We certainly have our share of problems in Pennsylvania,”
Henning said. “There are a number of access problems. Our Right to
Know Law is actually ranked in the bottom two or three in a survey
of open records laws across the country. Citizens are routinely
shut out of meetings and denied access to records they should have
access to.”
An editorial called “What’s wrong with the Sunshine Act?” by
Henning that focuses on the problems with enforcement of and
compliance with the Sunshine Act can be found by visiting PNA’s Web
site.
Bradford City Clerk John Peterson explained that the Sunshine
Act requires public agencies to meet in public. He explained that
“public agencies must take all official action and actions leading
up to official actions at public meetings,” according to the
Sunshine Law. He explained that meeting dates and times must be
pre-advertised if public actions will be taken at the meetings.
Peterson said that in specific situations, public agencies can
go into executive session (meet in private), such as for personnel
matters, strategy relative to any collective bargaining agreement
or arbitration, the purchase or lease of real estate, to consult an
attorney, and to discuss agency business that may lead to disclosed
or confidential information. He explained, however, that public
agencies “must announce that they are going into executive
session.”
Peterson said officials have to be very cautious of what is
discussed outside of a public meeting.
“There is a potential there for violation” of the Sunshine Law,
Peterson said. “We attempt to make sure politicians follow the rule
properly.”
Peterson said that the Sunshine Act and the Right to Know Law
“are two totally separate scenarios. The two are not intertwined at
all.”
However, Henning said Sunshine Week in Pennsylvania is “about
both access to records and access to meetings.”
“The (Right to Know) law is an act of the commonwealth of
Pennsylvania that requires certain records of governmental entities
be open for examination or inspection, authorizing citizens to have
copies” provided or made for them, Peterson explained.
He said when a document is requested by a public citizen, it is
reviewed to see if it falls under the definition of a public
record, and an attorney is consulted to approve or deny access to
the record. Peterson said there is also a time frame of five
business days in which the applicant must receive a response.
“If the response can’t be filled in that time frame, the
requester needs to know the reason why,” Peterson said.
He explained there are exceptions to the time frame. One
exception is for the redaction of the public record in order to
remove things from the record that are forbidden to be released to
the public by federal law. As an example, Peterson said public
documents that have a home address or Social Security number on
them must be redacted before the document can be released.
“You cannot jeopardize someone’s personal security,” Peterson
added.
Additional time can also be granted for retrieval if the
requested document is in a remote location or if there is staffing
limitations, such as the staff are all busy retrieving other
documents. Another exception is if the document needs to go to a
solicitor for legal review.
According to Peterson, a public record is defined in the law as
“an account, voucher or contraction dealing with the receipt or
disbursal of funds by any agency; its acquisition, use or disposal
of any supplies, materials, equipment or other property; and any
met order or decision of an agency fixing personal property rights,
privileges, immunities, duties or obligations of a person or groups
of persons, providing that the term public records does not mean
any report, term or other paper, the publication of which would
disclose the institution, progress or result of an investigation
undertaken by an agency in the performance of its official duties.
It shall not include a record, document, material, exhibit,
pleading, report, memorandum or other paper, access to or the
publication of which is restricted by statue law or decree of the
court that would” impair a person’s reputation or security or “that
would result in a loss in the commonwealth or any political
subdivision or state or municipal authority of federal funds,
policies, and procedures.”
The law also explains that municipalities do not have to create
a public document that does not exist or is not kept or if the
document is requested in a format that they do not use. Peterson
gave the example that a document for all of the utility costs for
the month of January for National Fuel Gas does not exist, and if
someone requested that document, municipalities would not have to
create the document for the requester.
Tom Vickery, chairman of the Bradford Township Supervisors,
explained that all of their documents are open to the public with
the exception of personal employee information.
“Our documents of Bradford Township, with the exception of the
employee files, are totally open to the public,” Vickery said. He
went on to say the employees’ paychecks are open to the public, but
it’s “the personal matters of the personal files that are closed.
As a public employee, your salary and benefits are public because
the public got them for you.”
Robert Slike Jr., chairman of the Foster Township Supervisors,
was not immediately available for comment on the matter.
