St. Augustine Record

Sunshine is not at the convenience of government

Today begins Sunshine Week, a national effort of news organizations and others interested in protecting laws that open up government to the people.

In St. Johns County, we have a champion of access, County Commission Vice Chairman Tom Manuel. In comments at Tuesday’s County Commission meeting, Manuel focused on access as a means of trust. “The issue is trust with our residents and transparency in government is critically important to that. … We are operating in the sunshine in St. Johns County government.”

We appreciate his words. There is no question where Manuel stands and expects the county to stand.

It’s important to reinforce what Manuel says about trust. The public trusts its public officials to follow Florida’s Sunshine Law (open meetings) and Public Records Law.

Unfortunately Commission Chairman Ben Rich takes a mixed view.

Tuesday, he was praised for helping former County Commissioner Nicholas Meiszer gain access to public documents in a consultant’s hands, after Meiszer had trouble getting them from staff. Later, Rich told staff to ensure public access by creating an administrative policy on it, if it did not already exist. (The county has one. It is in need of some improvement and that is being worked on, said County Attorney Patrick McCormack).

But minutes later, after McCormack said 40 records requests are made to the general county government monthly, Rich made access an issue of time and money. He also said that because of the Sunshine Law, six staff members were tied up all day recently going to separate briefings with each commissioner because they cannot have a pre-meeting presentation together. “The public records law makes these other cumbersome things happen that just tie the staff’s hands and create a system that just bogs down. That’s just the way the laws are. We have to suffer through them until somebody changes them and makes things a little easier for staff and for people like us to get the job done.”

When Commissioner Cyndi Stevenson suggested that there might be a way to get all commissioners in one room at the same time in the Sunshine, as the School Board does for a low-key meeting, he responded, “Sometimes what is in the best interest of the public is not something we generally want to advertise because it creates a lot of undue concern and wringing of the hands over an issue that doesn’t need to be addressed.”

Sorry, Mr. Rich. Sunshine and public records laws are not at the convenience of government. They are not the media’s laws. They are the public’s laws and government must never stand in the way of the public’s right to know.

Reproduced courtesy of the St. Augustine Record.
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