County Manager May Have Stepped Over The Line

The County Manager Might be infringing the 1st Amendment

According to an article in the Henry Daily Herald by Rachel Shirey, the Henry County Manager Mr. Jim Walker, has taken steps to take any requests for a FOIA away from the County Clerk Shay Mathis.  He said that any request made to access the records or property of any Commissioner or County employee outside the parameters of the open records must be approved by Walker.

All experts on the 1st Amendment say those records must be made public.  Attorney David Hudson, constitutional law expert, says there is nothing inherently wrong with keeping a log of the request or notifying officials, but a policy has to be in place for such action.  Hudson said that all emails, letters that concern government matters sent or received by government supplied equipment must be made public.

Georgia Assistant Attorney General Stefan Ritter said that a public document is any kind of information paper, power point, electronic versions, tape recording, video recording, post it notes, texts, email and data in computer servers.  Ritter said that if it is government business, then the record is open regardless of the equipment it is on.

County Manager Walker feels there is a shortcoming in the record keeping system, and he is taking steps to strengthen the system for open records requests.  He said that the county has not been doing a proper job of keeping track of who requested information, and what information was requested.  He said they were not properly notifying the leadership and employees about requests made about them.  Mr. Walker told in an email that county officials will remain transparent and in full compliance with open records laws.  But when a request is made about a commissioner, county manager, or a high level county leader, they will be notified who made the request and what the  request consists.  He said that he will check all requests to date and make sure they have a valid open records request attached.  If any problems are found he would notify the board.

This is raising red flags in the media.  This is where those in power forget that they work for the citizens.  Every penny going into a government is from the people and hiding information or giving the appearance thereof only brings about more questions.  And lawsuits by the press to gain information will be likely.  Thus, this involves the people’s money once again.  And if a commissioner or public official goes after a private citizen for asking for information, then not only lawsuits, but possible jail time will ensue.  The State of Georgia put into play rules about information and hiding or destroying information has happened in the past.  It will happen again and the people only want those they elect to remain honest.

Citizens for a Better Henry County

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