Is it serendipity?

Happy Sunshine Week! Is it serendipity that my birthday always falls during Sunshine Week? I hope so. I filed a RTK for the type of bait and method used to distribute it and was told yesterday that Mt. Lebanon needs to do a 30 day legal review. I wonder which of the thirty exceptions, including records related to personal or public security, DNA/RNA records, autopsy records, Social Security numbers, personal financial information, personal email addresses, marital status, identity of a covert law enforcement officer, home address of judges or law enforcement, confidential source records, and victim information, MTL is going to cite this time. They're just playing with me now.

In the spirit of Sunshine Week, the executive director of the PA Office of Open Records sent the following email to our state representatives.

Good afternoon and happy Sunshine Week!

Pursuant to Section 1310(a)(9) of the Right-to-Know Law, the Office of Open Records has prepared its Annual Report for 2015. The full report is attached; if you have any difficulties opening the attachment, it’s also available online:

http://www.openrecords.pa.gov/Additional-Resources/Documents/AnnaulReport2015.pdf

Some highlights from this year’s Annual Report include:

·         2,926 appeals filed in 2015, a record total.

·         1,794 appeals involving local agencies vs. 1,132 involving state agencies.

·         For the first time, the Annual Report provides a county-by-county looks at local agency appeals.

·         5 of the top appellate court decisions involving the RTKL.

·         10 examples of records accessed via the RTKL.

·         54 training sessions conducted across the state for about 1,500 people.

·         A look at what the OOR might face in the future.

Today is the first day of Sunshine Week, a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. As part of Sunshine Week, I’ll be analyzing some of the data in the OOR Annual Report, along with some data that didn’t make the final report – and more – on our blog and Twitter feeds:

https://openrecordspa.wordpress.com/

https://twitter.com/ErikOpenRecords

https://twitter.com/OpenRecordsPA

Thank you for your support of the Office of Open Records, and please let me know if you have any questions at all.

Cheers,

Erik

Erik Arneson Executive Director Office of Open Records Commonwealth Keystone Building 400 North St., Plaza Level Harrisburg, PA 17120-0225 (717) 346-9903  |  http://openrecords.pa.gov earneson@pa.gov @ErikOpenRecords  |  @OpenRecordsPA Open Records in Pennsylvania Blog

My court date is still April 11, 2016. If you haven't done so already, please consider visiting The Fight for the Right to Know. A comment in the following op/ed, To force government to be transparent, go directly to the campaign trail: Terry Mutchler, a supporter writes:

anadvocate

It is pathetic if citizens must get a lawyer and file legal suits to have our "public servants" comply with transparency laws.  These politicians are not serving us.  Instead they are protecting corruption and cronies.  I agree that citizens and activists need to keep the heat on.  There cannot be too much transparency when it deals with the actions of bureaucrats and politicians. 

Happy Sunshine Week!

Happy Sunshine Week

Gee, does this happen here? It is Sunshine Week 2012. I had a hard time choosing which editorial cartoon to use from this site. http://www.sunshineweek.org/Toolkits/EditorialCartoons.aspx We all know how the school board president encourages phone conversations.  I did see that the District website has finally updated the superintendent and board president monthly reports. Was it last week when I wrote that the latest reports were October 2011?

Sunshine Week 2012 is March 11 - March 17. The idea behind Sunshine Week is to promote an open government and freedom of information - our right to know. I have forms and procedures listed at http://www.lebocitizens.com/Lebo_Citizens/Right_to_Know.html If anyone needs help, email me at EGillen476@aol.com and I will walk you through the process.

Unfortunately, this law needs some refining, as seen here. PA Right To Know Law protects the crooks, not the people. There are some other ways around transparency, which our local government has figured out. A well known tactic is to phone or text.  There is no way to enforce that. File a RTK asking about all the wonderful communication between the two taxing bodies, as reported by Josephine Posti, and you aren't going to come up with much. Why half the joint steering committee, I mean, the joint discussion committee, or whatever it is being called today, live across the street from each other.  They can stop in the middle of Roycroft and have a meeting.  I don't know what can be done to stop that, but it is what it is. Glad there is no baggage there.

The point to this thread is that it is our right to know what is going on in government. It doesn't stop there.  We also have rights with the PA Public Utility Commission, OSHA, EPA, and other government agencies.
Happy Sunshine Week.

Is it hate in my heart?

Or is it just frustration? I filed a RTK in January about student parking at the high school and in it was this email, which was ignored. Since then, I have sent two emails and the only ones to respond were from school board directors, Scott Goldman and Larry Lebowitz. Thank you, Scott and Larry.

Now, to get the President's report, one must go to Josephine Posti's unofficial blog, Center Court. At one time, the School District published the reports here.  But as controlling as this woman is, it is only available on her blog.  Her M.O. is to stay off of official venues such as the district website and using her district email.  Notice how many times, she encourages phone calls.  I have said this before and it is also evident on her district emails that surfaced through the RTKs I filed. To avoid transparency, she was using her PA American Water account since personal accounts were off limits to RTK requests.  In January, that all changed.  I am sure all of her district business will be done through texting and phone calls.  After all, how many times has Josephine mentioned that communication between the two taxing bodies is greater than it has ever been?  Try proving that through a RTK. There isn't much out there now.

Sunday, March 11 marks the beginning of Sunshine Week 2012. I would like to propose a toast, "To transparency."

Celebrate Sunshine Week 2011

Sunshine Week is March 13-19.  Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Celebrate Sunshine Week 2011 by emailing the School Board and Commission (schoolboard@mtlsd.net and commission@mtlebanon.org) Urge them to do more than just make broad statements of support of greater transparency.  The Commission took a stand and rescinded their decision to hold closed Joint Steering Committee meetings with the School Board because we cried foul.  Three Commissioners listened.  Two didn't.  Let your elected officials know that they need to do more.

For more information about Sunshine Week, go to http://sunshineweek.org/About.aspx

Update 8:35 P.M.  Clarification from Dan Miller:

You of course know the outcome of how that went down.  Then when the solicitor conducted his review of the case law four commissioners agreed to only have public joint steering meetings (this was done in executive session with one commissioner not yet present). So in essence it was unanimous to support the solicitors opinion to rescind the offer to participate in private joint steering meetings. 

Dan would not say which commissioner was not present since it was done in executive session, but the vote was 4-0. The Feb. 17 Trib article http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_723014.html failed to say that a fourth commissioner changed his mind and the vote was 4-0.

Update 11:50 P.M.  Dan Miller posted this time line on his blog.  http://danmillerward5.com/joint-steering-meetings-with-school-board  Thanks for clearing it up, Dan.  Bottom line is that we want the School Board to be like the Commission.

Sunshine Week March 13-19

I know the perfect way to celebrate Sunshine Week 2011.  How about opening the Joint Steering Committee Meetings to the public?  For those of you who are not familiar with the Joint Steering Committee, two members of the Commission (usually the president and the vice-president) meet with two members of the School Board (usually the president and the vice-president.)  This year, President Miller and Commissioner Kluck wanted to hold these meetings with the public present, and three Commissioners didn't care either way.  The School Board, with their usual issues about transparency, have encouraged a second year of private sessions with the Commission.  Last year, a resident was turned away.

Note: Dan Miller did not attend as Vice-President last year and will not attend as President of the Commission this year.  Thanks, Dan!!!!

Here is a little video about our rights. 

For more information about Sunshine Week, go to sunshineweek.org

Update 02.04.11 On page 10 of the PA Department of Community and Economic Development publication, "Open Meetings The Sunshine Act,"

In that same document, under "Recording Devices," it clearly states on page 11 that the Sunshine Act allows persons attending public meetings to record the proceedings with recording devices including videotaping equipment.  Persons who attend and verbally participate in public meetings must expect to have their statements recorded. (Harman v. Wetzel, 766 F.Supp. 271, E.D. Pa.,1991) Ms. Posti, this should be good news to you, since you don't have to remind the residents that they are being audio recorded even though the meetings are also televised.

So when is the next Joint Steering Committee meeting?  There are a couple of us who would like to attend.