Open-records requests cost Elco time, money
By KATHY HACKLEMAN
For The [Lebanon[ Daily News
MYERSTOWN - Elco [Eastern Lebanon County School District] remains committed to abiding by the state's open-records law, school-board President Donna Moyer said Monday night, but the procedures are growing "a bit expensive."
Gwen Boltz, district business manager, told the school board she has spent more than 90 hours responding to requests for information since the enactment of the state law in January, which calls for greater public access to public records. She estimated that time was spent on 20 to 25 requests, one of which ate up nearly 30 hours itself.
Although Boltz's salary is not split out to reflect billing for those requests, a bill is anticipated from the district's auditor for time spent compiling information to respond to a resident's requests for information.
After the meeting, Boltz estimated that the cost to the district has been $7,000, of which the district has recovered $250 for copies, which is the only item for which the district can charge.
Ten district residents have filed requests for information, with one submitting 11 different requests, Boltz said. Seven non-resident requests have been received.
Among the information requested have been business invoices, payments to board members, requests for phone numbers, certified payrolls, e-mails to staff members, audit reports, Pennsylvania Department of Education investigations, W-2 tax forms, board minutes, payroll and insurance information, the superintendent's contract, solicitor fees, and enrollment agreements with the Lebanon County Career and Technology Center and Intermediate Unit 13.
Some businesses have sought information to obtain a competitive advantage, Boltz said.
The request that took 31 hours to complete involved a search of e-mails; the district's server had 180,000 e-mails at the time, which Boltz had to review. An allegation was made that someone had accepted gifts or meals from vendors.
"Nothing improper turned up," Boltz said. "The target was board members, then a request was made to search staff members. Nothing illegal was found."
Boltz said she has been asked to provide staff members' home addresses, which she denied due to a court injunction. That injunction has been appealed.
In addition, the district's solicitor reported he had spent 20 to 30 hours of his own responding to requests for information.
"I think it's important that the public knows what this costs," board member Doug Good said.
Both board members and staff said they are not trying to hide anything, but they are finding the process to be cumbersome and expensive.
According to Superintendent Richard Nilsen, the problem should ease soon as new information is being saved in a digital format that will make accessing it much easier for both staff and residents.
"However, most documents that are now being requested are from the past," he said.
Another problem that has arisen, officials said, is that it is difficult to explain technical data to district residents who are not familiar with the jargon used in some of the reports.
"We will meet with anyone at any time at any place to explain anything, including budgets," Nilsen said.
He added that he finds it frustrating to interpret information on paper because the person requesting the information nearly always has follow-up questions that require another request for information.
"It is so much easier in a face-to-face conversation," he said. "Please come in and let us show you and explain it. A lot of what we do doesn't make sense (if one doesn't already have a significant amount of background knowledge about the topic)."
Board member Howard Kramer thanked Boltz for the extra hours she has put in answering requests for information, noting that many of those hours are spent on weekends and evenings.
Staff Writer Steve Snyder contributed to this report.
For The [Lebanon[ Daily News
MYERSTOWN - Elco [Eastern Lebanon County School District] remains committed to abiding by the state's open-records law, school-board President Donna Moyer said Monday night, but the procedures are growing "a bit expensive."
Gwen Boltz, district business manager, told the school board she has spent more than 90 hours responding to requests for information since the enactment of the state law in January, which calls for greater public access to public records. She estimated that time was spent on 20 to 25 requests, one of which ate up nearly 30 hours itself.
Although Boltz's salary is not split out to reflect billing for those requests, a bill is anticipated from the district's auditor for time spent compiling information to respond to a resident's requests for information.
After the meeting, Boltz estimated that the cost to the district has been $7,000, of which the district has recovered $250 for copies, which is the only item for which the district can charge.
Ten district residents have filed requests for information, with one submitting 11 different requests, Boltz said. Seven non-resident requests have been received.
Among the information requested have been business invoices, payments to board members, requests for phone numbers, certified payrolls, e-mails to staff members, audit reports, Pennsylvania Department of Education investigations, W-2 tax forms, board minutes, payroll and insurance information, the superintendent's contract, solicitor fees, and enrollment agreements with the Lebanon County Career and Technology Center and Intermediate Unit 13.
Some businesses have sought information to obtain a competitive advantage, Boltz said.
The request that took 31 hours to complete involved a search of e-mails; the district's server had 180,000 e-mails at the time, which Boltz had to review. An allegation was made that someone had accepted gifts or meals from vendors.
"Nothing improper turned up," Boltz said. "The target was board members, then a request was made to search staff members. Nothing illegal was found."
Boltz said she has been asked to provide staff members' home addresses, which she denied due to a court injunction. That injunction has been appealed.
In addition, the district's solicitor reported he had spent 20 to 30 hours of his own responding to requests for information.
"I think it's important that the public knows what this costs," board member Doug Good said.
Both board members and staff said they are not trying to hide anything, but they are finding the process to be cumbersome and expensive.
According to Superintendent Richard Nilsen, the problem should ease soon as new information is being saved in a digital format that will make accessing it much easier for both staff and residents.
"However, most documents that are now being requested are from the past," he said.
Another problem that has arisen, officials said, is that it is difficult to explain technical data to district residents who are not familiar with the jargon used in some of the reports.
"We will meet with anyone at any time at any place to explain anything, including budgets," Nilsen said.
He added that he finds it frustrating to interpret information on paper because the person requesting the information nearly always has follow-up questions that require another request for information.
"It is so much easier in a face-to-face conversation," he said. "Please come in and let us show you and explain it. A lot of what we do doesn't make sense (if one doesn't already have a significant amount of background knowledge about the topic)."
Board member Howard Kramer thanked Boltz for the extra hours she has put in answering requests for information, noting that many of those hours are spent on weekends and evenings.
Staff Writer Steve Snyder contributed to this report.