Jeff thought it would be of great interest, and I agree, to have a weekly summary of the requests for public records and their disposition. If there was a report every week of the requests received, closed and remaining open, everybody—citizens, representatives and staff—could then see on an ongoing basis how transparent and responsive our government is.
I've requested such a weekly summary before, and the City's public information request tracking (PIRT) system is able to spit them out with ease. Here's a sample of what the PIRT system can generate and that could be included in the City Manager's weekly IFYI:
UPDATE: This blogger has created a timeline of the City's responses to records requests over a recent 45 day period from PIRT information.
Thanks.
ReplyDeleteMy research, not recent, showed that the person requesting such records is not required to identify themselves nor the reason for the request.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's correct.
ReplyDeleteThis week should be interesting.
ReplyDeleteAnd if the City doesn't want to provide it I guess we all just submit public information requests to get it, right? Week after week, after week, after week....
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of doing that anyway, Billy, so that I can graph the requests on a timeline. I think that would be interesting; to see how long it takes requests to get filled.
ReplyDeleteThat's something I'd like to see an ongoing record of. I think it would go a long ways towards forcing open government or at least proving the case that Greensboro is deliberately keeping secrets.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I can do it every week, but check back in the morning, Billy, I've made something for you.
ReplyDelete