Stonewalling Information Request at Elk Grove City Hall
Several weeks ago was sunshine week - the week where governments' handling of public information was examined. At the time one of our re...
https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2012/05/stonewalling-information-request-at-elk.html
Several weeks ago was sunshine week - the week where governments' handling of public information was examined. At the time one of our regular readers contributed a thoughtful piece on the matter.
Since that week, as part or our normal new coverage, EGN has made a number of information requests to city departments. We have requested via email and phone information from the city clerk, police, planning and public information departments and have been consistently provided with the information requested in a relatively timely basis.
That is until yesterday.
As part of a follow-up story on the complaint filed against Council Member Steve Detrick, EGN emailed a request to Elk Grove City Clerk inquiring as the the procedure for handling a complaint by a citizen. Specifically, we wanted to know what was the procedure to handle an ethics complaint based on allegation brought forward by an Elk Grove citizen.
As is the usual case with the city clerk's office, we received a timely response. The city clerk said that a complaint is typically referred to the proper department for handling and in this case we were told the complaint filed on April 27 was referred to the city attorney's office and the city manager.
To follow up on the matter, the city manager, city attorney and the public information officer were emailed a request seeking an explanation of the procedure to be used to address the citizens complaint. We wrote "specifically, does your department have an established timetable to address the complaint? What is the procedure for investigating the complaint?"
This email was sent at 3:37 p.m yesterday. As of the close of business today at 5 p.m., we have not received a response of any sort from the city manager, city attorney, public information officer or any of their subordinates.
Mind you, we were not asking for the result or any specific information. Nonetheless, no one who was sent that email even had the courtesy or transparency to reply with a routine "we are looking into the matter" or "we can't discuss this matter at this time."
So much for sunshine.
The old saying about the cover-up being worse than the crime comes to mind here. We can't help but wonder why no response to a simple procedural inquiry.
Since that week, as part or our normal new coverage, EGN has made a number of information requests to city departments. We have requested via email and phone information from the city clerk, police, planning and public information departments and have been consistently provided with the information requested in a relatively timely basis.
That is until yesterday.
As part of a follow-up story on the complaint filed against Council Member Steve Detrick, EGN emailed a request to Elk Grove City Clerk inquiring as the the procedure for handling a complaint by a citizen. Specifically, we wanted to know what was the procedure to handle an ethics complaint based on allegation brought forward by an Elk Grove citizen.
As is the usual case with the city clerk's office, we received a timely response. The city clerk said that a complaint is typically referred to the proper department for handling and in this case we were told the complaint filed on April 27 was referred to the city attorney's office and the city manager.
To follow up on the matter, the city manager, city attorney and the public information officer were emailed a request seeking an explanation of the procedure to be used to address the citizens complaint. We wrote "specifically, does your department have an established timetable to address the complaint? What is the procedure for investigating the complaint?"
This email was sent at 3:37 p.m yesterday. As of the close of business today at 5 p.m., we have not received a response of any sort from the city manager, city attorney, public information officer or any of their subordinates.
Mind you, we were not asking for the result or any specific information. Nonetheless, no one who was sent that email even had the courtesy or transparency to reply with a routine "we are looking into the matter" or "we can't discuss this matter at this time."
So much for sunshine.
The old saying about the cover-up being worse than the crime comes to mind here. We can't help but wonder why no response to a simple procedural inquiry.
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4 comments
We appreciate your diligence in attempting to have the city walk their walk and talk their talk. Remember a while back when they touted their new electronic customer service page and guaranteed an e-mail response within 24 hours!
That deafening roar of silence is only exceeded by the squeaky wheels of wagons circling--throwing up so much dust it covers the sunshine of government.
This ain't no Rawhide movie, and the only only raw hides out there are the ones of the citizen who continually get played as fools. So pathetic...
You're complaining about a lack of response over 1 hour and 27 minutes? Really?? Come on. Give them a break. Maybe they were in meetings. Maybe they were responding to inquiries that came in earlier that day. Maybe there was an issue that required immediate attention - they are running an entire City after all. I think your expectations are just a little too high. Kudos to them for being so prompt in the past. If it were me, I wouldn't expect a response to a question like that so quickly.
It was actually 25 hours and 23 minutes. The request was sent on Monday at 3:37 p.m PDT and as of the end of business, 5:00 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, there was no response, even a courtesy one, of any sort. Just for clarification.
That's still nuts. Who said emails have to be responded to the same day? Still sounds pretty responsive to me, Dan.
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