What we have here is…failure to communicate…

Treasure State Network.

An entity would like to look at a class of documents held by Montana county clerk and recorders. Treasure State Network formally requested these records, in writing.

Out of 56 Montana counties, one, Powder River County, sent out something besides a “do it your self” letter. There really isn’t much to Powder River County, so compliance may not have been too hard.   

That is not, however, the point.

The letter from the Mineral County Clerk and Recorder caught my eye. “I do not try to determine in generalities which records may or may not be included in a broad scope request.”

She says this, apparently implying that the request is broad and unclear, yet the letter from TSN was fairly specific.

“I am not obligated to conduct a search for all documents which meet some specified criteria.” First, she calls it a “broad scope request” yet now we have “specified criteria”.

“all presently active or enforceable contracts to which you are a party, and to which a non governmental person or entity is also a party, excluding employment contracts with government employees, and excluding minor contracts having a total monetary value or payment obligation of less than $1,000.” and “all presently active or enforceable sole source (no bid) contracts to which you are a party, and to which a non governmental person or entity is also a party, excluding employment contracts with government employees and excluding minor contracts having a total monetary value or payment obligation of less than $1,000.”

This request clearly asks for specific contracts, and supporting documents if needed. The dates, amounts and names of parties should not only be in the contracts themselves, but it certainly appears to me that virtually all of this information should also be documented in the accounts payable and/or receivable records of these County governments.

If you are a government entity, and have a specific business relationship with Company A, you are generally paying for or receiving services under a certain set of terms -typically outlined in a contract. One could logically assume you would have readily accessible records outlining what you are paying, to whom, when, and why. This is not rocket science.
(unless you are talking about The City/ECP & SME)

7-4-2611. Role and duties of county clerk and election administrator
(2) The county clerk shall:
(c) make full entries of all its resolutions and decisions on all questions concerning the raising of money for and the allowance of accounts against the county;
(g) preserve and file all accounts acted upon by the board;

Out of 56 Montana Counties, apparently only one Clerk even attempted to assist TSN in locating this information. One. And they all know they have to keep specified indexes, including the ones that are the focus of a new request from TSN. People like this do not just go away, and we on the other side should thank them for that.

Would it have been so hard to send a list off, and say here you go, this is what we have we’ll get er copied, you let us know exactly which ones you want?  And yes, we will charge you the statutory fee if you want them.

The nice thing would be that they don’t really have to worry about what else is on that there list, I mean, it is all Public Record, RIGHT?

They almost certainly have all the requested information virtually at their fingertips, on computer. I know for a fact that some of them are in the process of putting all current bids and proposals online.

It is a public record, requested by a member of the public, from a person who is employed by the public.

Why is this so hard?

18 June 2009 | Life | Comments