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Sunday, March 19, 2006
Ind. Gov't. - How one citizen uses the public access law
The Richmond Paladium-Item has this story today by Pam Tharp about the State's public access law. Some quotes:
LIBERTY, Ind. --Mae Hubbard hates waste and she especially dislikes wasteful government spending.But without public access laws, Hubbard said she'd have a difficult time knowing how the Union County-College Corner Joint School District spends its money. * * *
A certified public accountant in Liberty, Hubbard has made nearly monthly public records requests of the school since August, after school officials refused to give budget worksheets to the public.
"Before that, the requests I made were informal. When they refused to give the budget worksheets, I had to involve the public access counselor. I'm involved to try to get business leaders to make better business decisions. We expect excellence from students and the state holds principals accountable for student achievement. W hy shouldn't we expect good business management for our dollars?" Hubbard asked.
Hubbard filed information requests for the school's property and liability insurance quotes and its federal form 941, which has payroll totals. She wanted to determine if workman's compensation quotes were based on accurate numbers. She also asked for board members' conflict of interest statements.
After those requests, the district adopted a new policy that involves the school attorney in many open record requests to see if the information can be released.
Superintendent Mark Ransford said public record requests aren't as "cut and dried" as they might seem.
"On the conflict of interest it took four and a half hours to determine if that could be released, consulting with our attorney, calling the public access counselor. A lot of issues haven't been defined by the law. At times it's been a burden to redirect our efforts to handle the requests," Ransford said. * * *
Hubbard said she's become more patient with the time needed to gather records, but finds the effort is worthwhile. There was a $2 million difference in the payroll figures used by two insurance agencies on which the workman's compensation coverage bids were based, Hubbard said. A decision on copiers last fall also was flawed when the numbers were scrutinized, Hubbard said.
The school has since backed away from its November insurance decision because of the workman's comp discrepancy and the fact that the East Central Special Services District payroll was included in Union County's totals since 2003, which was also an error. That payroll is a shared cost among four school districts and shouldn't have been Union County's total responsibility.
The district has canceled its insurance coverage as of May 15 and is drafting a common set of values for rebidding.
Hubbard said board members have tried to demonize her for questioning decisions. Board members don't ask enough questions or hold administrators accountable for their recommendations and decisions, she said.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 19, 2006 09:45 AM
Posted to Indiana Government