So I work in local government, specifically in an area that touches on public records a lot. Where I live has extremely broad public records laws (which is a good thing). The first week of the...
So I work in local government, specifically in an area that touches on public records a lot. Where I live has extremely broad public records laws (which is a good thing).
The first week of the shutdown were just everybody locked down and all non-essential government functions put on hold. After that, we quickly started brining things back to the normal functioning level so that we could deal with the things that had been piling up – a week of no activity might not sound like a lot, but think about how many things a local government do within a single week. Waiting much longer than that can be catastrophic.
One of the first things we dealt with were the public records requests. Sometimes they are as mundane as “can I have a copy of that code enforcement report?” or “Can I have the transcript of the last commission meeting?” Sometimes they are complex. But it is drilled into employee’s heads that public records requests are extremely important.
[...] “right to access government records is not suspended” during a disaster.
So I work in local government, specifically in an area that touches on public records a lot. Where I live has extremely broad public records laws (which is a good thing).
The first week of the shutdown were just everybody locked down and all non-essential government functions put on hold. After that, we quickly started brining things back to the normal functioning level so that we could deal with the things that had been piling up – a week of no activity might not sound like a lot, but think about how many things a local government do within a single week. Waiting much longer than that can be catastrophic.
One of the first things we dealt with were the public records requests. Sometimes they are as mundane as “can I have a copy of that code enforcement report?” or “Can I have the transcript of the last commission meeting?” Sometimes they are complex. But it is drilled into employee’s heads that public records requests are extremely important.
This hits the nail on the head.