A Matter of Public Request Facts

“All citizens in a democratic society are entitled to openness in government. Idaho's Open Meeting and Public Records laws, ensure that state and local government business is conducted in the open, that citizens have access to public documents, and at the same time the privacy of citizens is protected.” Idaho Public Record Law Manual. 2017

For those of you not familiar with this manual it can be accessed online. Public record requests make sure that we as citizens can access public records to keep our government open and transparent.

“Open government is the cornerstone of a free society. The Idaho Legislature affirmed Idaho’s commitment to open government by enacting the Idaho public records law in 1990. The public records law protects each citizen’s right to monitor the actions of state and local government entities by providing access to government records. The Legislature is continually balancing the competing interests of public access and an individual’s right to privacy, through its adoption and amendments to Idaho’s public records law.”

With that said a question was posed at the last BW&S meeting (February 15, 2018) by a citizen concerning the recent requests for public records. These requests are protected by our State Attorney General Lawrence Wadsen. We as users of BW&S have the right to monitor the actions that our Board has taken concerning the running and administration of our Water and Sewer District. If memory serves me correctly it seems that one of our current Board members did indeed exercise her right to view public records before she was elected to the Board. She was heavily involved in public records requests along with 3 other people, two who are members of the BW&S District.

Chairman Chuck Waller stated in a letter to the CDA Press editor May 13th, 2015 “A third issue is a complaint that Bayview Water and Sewer is following the State Code regarding record requests. Would people have us ignore State laws because it is not convenient for them? The law is to enhance transparency.” (Chuck Waller).

We as consumers have the right to look at records, we also have the right to make public records requests. The current Board used transparency as their platform during the 2015 election. 

Yes, citizens can make public records requests, no the Board may not ask why citizens are making the request, and no the Board should not make a request at a Board meeting that citizens stop making requests because the requests are, in their opinion, a waste of time.

" The denial of honesty, openness, transparency and integrity in public administration leads to self-interest and corruption vs public interest and sound governance."

Norma Jean Knowles