According to an El Paso Times article the Ysleta Independent School District (YISD) stiff-armed a Times public information request relating to bids to conduct a study about potentially outsourcing four administrative jobs.
Let’s start with the fact that the anticipated fee would be $100,000. That fee would have bought a feasibility study of the effect of outsourcing those few jobs. Suffice it to say that a more prudent approach would not have required a study. Some would conclude that management (either at the board or staff level) should be expected to handle a decision like that.
Put simply, this does not look right. It is good that the Times is looking into this.
The Times seemed surprised that the district “notified the bidder” even though their expert felt it would be hard to see why the information should not be considered available to the public.
The Times walked into the YISD trap. Remember that government officials, lawyers, and elected people spend our money attending meetings and conferences that draw other people with similar jobs. One of the things that happens at these conferences is that they share their clever ways to get around pesky requirements that they find inconvenient.
The documents probably contained copyrighted material or information that the vendor might claim to be proprietary. This gave YISD an excuse to ask for an Attorney General ruling about the contents, thus delaying disclosure for weeks. Notifying the vendor is required under the law. Teaching the vendor how to effectively object to the release is not required. YISD did that to try to avoid releasing the information. If the vendor does not effectively raise the proper objections YISD may be ordered to release the documents.
The Times should have asked that YISD redact any such material. After reading the released documents the Times could then decide if access to the redacted information was needed.
Open Records is a previous post that addressed some of the things to avoid or to specifically do when making a public information request. One thing that the post did not suggest was requesting the right to inspect the documents in person. This technique can eliminate opportunities for the agency to delay the process. You are even allowed to make your own copies of the documents if there is nothing that the law requires to be redacted and as long as your copying equipment does not create a safety hazard or disrupt operations. Think cell phone camera.
What YISD did here was despicable. It is part of a technique that many public agencies (especially the City of El Paso) use to frustrate the process.
The thing to remember is that the agency will probably try to find a way to trip you up. Read the earlier post and write your request in a way that avoids their tricks.
Vote in May to change the leadership of agencies that play these tricks.
We deserve better
Brutus
Posted by Brutus 
elpasospeak 
You must be logged in to post a comment.