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reversal is one
small victory
One step forward.
That’s what can be derived from County Attorney Steve Fowler’s letter that directs county department heads to be custodians of the public records they possess.
It was an easy decision, really, since it’s the law of the land that’s backed up by case law.
Last year, County Manager Jim Varner appointed Fowler as the county’s “Public Information Officer,” but in that role, requests from the public for many public records had to go through Fowler. That’s gatekeeping, and it’s against the law.
And records were extremely hard to get. The most recent example was a real estate appraisal done on the county’s Department of Aging headquarters on Chadbourn Highway. The appraisal was made available only after repeated requests through Fowler’s office.
The real test of Fowler’s letter, however, will come when the public or media request records from department heads. If word comes from on high that records are to be as hard to come by as they have been, the letter can only be seen as window dressing and the public’s interests will not have been served.
Training should be provided to department heads, but the general rule of thumb should be easy to remember: except for some personnel files, public records belong to the public.