////A statewide public records audit by the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition has shown that Maine communities have improved their compliance to freedom of information laws in the last four years but still fall far short of perfection.
In 2002, the coalition performed an audit to see how Maine communities were complying with information requests since the state legislature enacted a strong freedom of access law in 1959, according to coalition president Mal Leary.
Leary said the 2002 audit showed that various departments in the communities responded differently to requests for certain information considered public by state law. About 65 percent of police departments complied with requests to view daily police logs. About 65 percent of school districts presented superintendents’ contracts. And about 50 percent of town offices allowed viewing of expense reports of the highest elected official.
According to Leary, the state legislature has made a push in the last four years to educate local officials about Maine’s freedom of information law. To test the results, the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition conducted a follow-up audit in May of this year.
For this audit, the coalition audited about 35 percent of all police departments, about 20 percent of all town offices and about 25 percent of school districts, according its report. The audit was modeled after audits used in other states including California, Connecticut, Indiana, Missouri and New Jersey.
This time around, the numbers were up slightly, although Leary said problems still exist across the state. About 70 percent of police departments complied with requests to see a pursuit policy while 65 percent of school districts gave access to district crisis response plans. Just under 60 percent of town offices complied with requests for access to unpaid tax liens, and 65 percent gave access to attorney’s fees paid in 2005.////
///////////////////////When asked to see unpaid tax liens, employees at Westbrook City Hall complied with the request for records after asking the auditor’s name.
“The info that is public should be easily public,” commented Jerre Bryant about Westbrook’s policy, saying the city tries to help people find what they’re looking for in a timely manner. “There’s the letter of the law that you must comply with. We try to follow the letter and the spirit of the law.”
The policy in Gorham when asked for attorney’s fees paid out in 2005 and unpaid tax liens is to require a formal written request, and then the city would provide the information in the time allotted by the law.
Westbrook had some trouble earlier in the year when the arrest of a fire department official was left out of the police log provided to the media. The city responded that it was an oversight and the information was not intentionally withheld from the log and has since made changes to the way the police log is presented to the media to prevent a similar situation from recurring.
“We have done ongoing training with our public contact person to ensure that all public information is available to the public,” said Police Chief Paul McCarthy.
McCarthy said public requests for information generally include information on crimes as well as information on department polices such as how it handles sex offender notification.
“While the law is clear about what we are required to provide, a well-informed public is better able to deal with circumstances that arise that are important to them,” he said.
In Gorham, Sgt. Michael Nault said the Gorham police require a written request but provide the information with a turnaround time of the same day or two to three days at most.
“We’re going to give them what we can give them in a timely manner,” said Nault, who added that sensitive information regarding ongoing cases is not made public as a matter of course, but the department doesn’t willingly try to withhold anything.
When asked for a pursuit policy by auditors, the Gorham police representative was unfamiliar with the document but referred the auditor to an officer who was unavailable. Nault said information is available and can be copied at a cost of $7 for the first page and $1 every other page after that.
Like police departments, school districts are limited in what they can release, particularly about personnel and students, according to Michael Kucsma, business manager of the Westbrook School Department. Kucsma said Westbrook requires a request in writing and the request is evaluated to see if it’s appropriate for the school to release the information.
“There are a lot of laws protecting students’ rights, and the school department has to follow the laws,” he said, adding that very little information is given out on personnel issues also.
Kucsma said if the information is appropriate or perhaps even available already on the school department Web site, he provides the information or will direct the person who requested it to where it can be found.///////////////////////////////
Following the May audit, Leary recommends that towns, schools and police departments continue education on freedom of information access for its employees. Leary also recommends that costs for obtaining information be aligned across the state to ensure that cost and access is equal.
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