There was a portion of tonight's City Council meeting where I damn near started pulling out my increasingly graying hair. I almost posted a message on my Facebook page along the lines of, "I started covering city governments 20 years ago, and there comes a time in way-too-many council meetings where I wonder why we even bother to vote."
Tonight's completely meaningless topic: Whether to give candidates for council seats in the November election copies of complete council agendas prior to council meetings.
Prior to each meeting, the City Council is given a stack of papers containing background material on the items under consideration. The agenda packet contains memos of staff opinion, letters from concerned citizens, spreadsheets, historical records and other documents that might be germaine to a particular agenda item.
Except for material related to closed session discussions, none of it is particularly precious.
But to hear Frank Ferrando and Rose Mary Christian go on and on about it tonight, you would think these documents were as sacred as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
We heard about what an honor and privilege it is to get the background documents once elected (but not before), and if the council challengers want to be fully informed, all they need to do was show up at the meetings (which, disappointingly, tonight, none of the three challengers -- Phil Ricci, Sara Jane Burk-Balbi and Julie Wallace -- were bothered to attend).
From the Christian and Ferrando perspective, even showing up shouldn't entitle people to the sacred documents. It should be enough just to come and listen to fully understand the issues.
Well, yes, some discussions can be enlightening just from the questions and statements of council members and staff, but having sat through numerous government agency meetings, I can tell you -- it's quite easy to misunderstand or misconstrue the conversation without adequate written background material -- and ideally, material you've read in advance of the meeting. I'm sometimes frustrated by how skimpy the background material actually is with some local public agencies.
But none of the current council members were granted the esteemed privilege of document access prior to election, so why should the new challenges be bestowed such a time-honored trust?
Here's a news flash: The background material is public record.
Here's the very eloquent preamble to the New York's public records' law:
Legislative declaration. The legislature hereby finds that a free society is maintained when government is responsive and responsible to the public, and when the public is aware of governmental actions. The more open a government is with its citizenry, the greater the understanding and participation of the public in government.
As state and local government services increase and public problems become more sophisticated and complex and therefore harder to solve, and with the resultant increase in revenues and expenditures, it is incumbent upon the state and its localities to extend public accountability wherever and whenever feasible.
The people's right to know the process of governmental decision-making and to review the documents and statistics leading to determinations is basic to our society. Access to such information should not be thwarted by shrouding it with the cloak of secrecy or confidentiality. The legislature therefore declares that government is the public's business and that the public, individually and collectively and represented by a free press, should have access to the records of government in accordance with the provisions of this article (emphasis added, and notice the use of the phrase "leading to").
Once a government agency creates a document that is not otherwise exempt under provisions of FOIL, it becomes public record. It matters not whether it's been distributed to the City Council, the media or the clerk across the hall, or never even leaves the desk of its writer -- unless exempted under specific provisions of FOIL, it is public record. Period.
There was some concern tonight about the costs of creating copies of the background material for candidates, and the council finally decided on a 5-4 vote to make available only four additional copies for any member of the public (not just candidates) to walk into the clerk's office and obtain. But there is a simple solution to the cost issue: PDF.
The obvious course of action for the city to take -- the needs of some council members to protect their special privileges aside -- is for the city clerk to upload a copy of each agenda and all background material to the city's Web site at the same time it is made available for the council.
This would be most in keeping with the principles of a free and open government.
Those voting against greater government transparency, even at the minimal level eventually passed tonight: Marianne Clattenburg, Kathy Briggs, Ferrando and Christian.
For anyone unaware of what
For anyone unaware of what PDF is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format
For the record.... The three
For the record.... The three "Challengers" for City Council have been keeping up on informed issues and working hard to get elected to serve the City of Batavia. Phil Ricci, Sara Jane Burk-Balbi (FULL DISCLOSURE HERE - THIS CANDIDATE IS MY DAUGHTER) and Julie Wallace have and will attend meetings in the past and in the future. Once again, disparaging remarks will not change the hard work that these three candidates are engaging in.
Thank you for that Pat. I am
Thank you for that Pat.
I am not a man who makes excuses, but I do believe in facts if I am to be attacked. My 88 year old grandmother fell recently and fractured her back. My wife and I have been caring for both her and our 88 grandfather who also suffers from conditions that keep him immobile. My wife works some evenings so last night fell to me. I regret not being able to atttend last night's meeting, but my family needed me and I was there.
For the record, I agree with Howard. ANY citizen that wants to have this information should be able to have access to it without political interference. As you can see by Howard's article it is a right that you have.
Further, I never engaged in any kind of debate about this topic, or even made issue for that matter about the subject, so I find it interesting that current members feel the need to attack us over it.
Thank you,
Phil Ricci
Phil, I was trying to tell
Phil, I was trying to tell everyone in my comment on the "poll of the day". That the three of you were probably at home reading the material they wouldn't give you. I know how hard you're all working and just how much work it is to be a candidate. Now that you three will be getting these packets when Coucil does, it will afford all of you more time to attend meetings as an already informed candidate.
Howard is right; this is a
Howard is right; this is a lot to do about nothing. All candidates as well as citizens should have access to the background information.
Council is nothing more than a group of citizens given the task of making decisions for our community. I am positive, if given the same information most people would make the same decisions. The public’s lack of information makes the job harder. The runabout is a prime example. Council is unanimously in favor of the DOT decision because, we had the background information. Keeping information from people just increases suspicion. There is nothing difficult about being on Council when you have the information.
Phil, your family is far more important than the meeting was last night. You have your priorities straight, that is one of the many reasons you’re the right person for the job.
I am not a Batavia resident,
I am not a Batavia resident, so I don't think it's right of me to comment on a Batavia issue, but I'm curious now - is this common practice in the local government world? Do other municipalities in the area have the same practice as Batavia?
Prior to Batavia, I covered
Prior to Batavia, I covered six other municipal governments. Granted, they were all in California. On the other hand, it doesn't seem that public record and open meeting laws are all that different between New York and California. So, all that said, I've never seen it be an issue before. By that I mean, I've never known a public body to make any case/effort to keep obviously identifiable public information from anybody who wanted it. Now, every jurisdiction occasionally have documents come along that they would rather not be made public, or not made public at a specific time, and then the press and the officials tangle over those documents -- but, for something as obviously public as council background material, to have any sort of thought that it wouldn't be readily available to all members of the public once the council has a copy is highly unusual in my experience.
As a courtesy I can see ensuring council members get the documents before any non-elected officials, but that's merely a courtesy. There's no legal defense for it.
Phil, yes, take care of your family first, even when once elected, should you win. But in the absence of that knowledge when I wrote last night, I think it was fair of me in what I wrote above to question why no candidates were at the meeting last night. Though, I will state, I've seen you at prior meetings.
Does anyone know what the
Does anyone know what the policy is on this with the Town of Batavia or with the County Legisature?
There's a similar editorial
There's a similar editorial article in the Democrat and Chronicle today.
John, should that even
John, should that even matter? Shouldn't the City decide for itself? What's the big deal anyway? It's public material, does it really put a huge burden on Hiedi to assemble three more packets? If it does, I'll check with Jason and if it a matter of the expense that has everyone in a tizzy over this, I'll take up a collection to cover the costs of three more packets. Besides Hiedi's time (probably less then 10 minutes for three packs) and the paper itself, I doubt it's going to cause a $.0000001 (just a guess) per year to each taxpayer. If that will give us better informed candidates, I'm all for it. What matters now is The City of Batavia decided last night to give us better informed candidates. Maybe the Town and County will follow us instead of us checking with them.
Tim, it's the digital age, so
Tim, it's the digital age, so why are copy costs even an issue -- just send a digital copy (PDF format is best) to anybody who requests a copy? That was one of the things that bothered me about what passed last night -- four physical copies in the clerk's office ... that is a waste of money and totally unnecessary. I'm going to assume that anybody who wants to get elected to a government body these days has Internet access (they're not going to be of the type who is informed enough to be a representative if they're not using the Web), and for those citizens who want a copy but don't have a computer, they can pay for their own copies, as covered in FOIL.
Tim, Calm down. The Council
Tim,
Calm down. The Council made its decision. I don’t have a problem with the decision and didn’t care one way or the other.
I was curious what other agency policies are so why should you care about my question?
Mr. Roach, I can't speak for
Mr. Roach,
I can't speak for the Town, but I will say that members of the County Legislature haven't been falling all over themselves in their rush to provide me with background information on resolutions or discussions.
If one is internet savvy and properly motivated, it is possible to at least view the minutes of Legislature and Committee meetings, but background information (which I believe to be the real meat and potatoes of the legislative decision making process) is mostly unavailable to the general public outside of marching down to the County Building and demanding copies.
Chris, Thanks for that and
Chris,
Thanks for that and good luck in the election.
Creating a PDF from paper
Creating a PDF from paper documents isn't much different than scanning them. Pre-existing equipment could probably be used, and the software needed is free, however, there are programs with "special features" that do cost money.
If the Council would want to pursue this or would like to get a little "background information" on what this process would entail, I would encourage them that they talk to Paul McCullough, a Network/Systems Administrator for Genesee County. I've met and talked with him before. He's a brilliant man, and far more familiar with what resources Batavia has and would know the best possible way this could be implemented.
Chris, they could just buy a
Chris, they could just buy a Mac -- super easy to PDF up any document. But right now, the city doesn't have any trouble creating PDFs. Everything they e-mail out comes as PDF.
John, I love how your first
John, I love how your first sentence is "calm down Tim" every time yoou respond to me. I get a kick how you are always trying to paint me with a single stroke. When you ask a question it's supposed to taken thoughtful and rational. When ever I address you I'm irrational and thoughtless. Wow, if you really knew me like you think you do or try to portray me as. Show me one instance whereI have tried to antagonize you or portray you as anything other then another poster? I know your agenda towards me and "Oh Well". I just give opinions, I'm not running for anything nor do I have an agenda for any candidate. So, "Just relax John", there's still a lot of time left before election day to go after me. I'm calm as a cucumber, thanks for worrying about me though.
Tim, I ask a question about
Tim,
I ask a question about County and Town Batavia policy, and you demand to know from me why. How about I wanted to know? What business is that of yours?
What “agenda” you claim I have against you is a mystery or figment of an over active mind. I had a right to ask my question and Chris gave me part of an answer, and I thanked him.
,
Oh, sorry, my mistake John.
Oh, sorry, my mistake John.
If the city is already
If the city is already familiar with PDFs, why are we having this discussion? Everything should already be made available via PDF or another digital file format.
I'm about ready to start tugging on my hair too.