By Tracy Overstreet
tracy.overstreet@theindependent.com

Sunshine Week is Monday through Friday and is meant to bring awareness to the use and importance of public records.

"The Grand Island Independent recently requested city cell phone records as part of a national initiative conducted by newspapers to evaluate openness in government," Independent Publisher Don Smith said. "Access to government information at the federal, state and local level is a public right, essential to the maintenance of a responsible government and the health and well-being of society."

City Clerk RaNae Edwards said Grand Island does not issue cell phones to the mayor or the 10 city council members. So The Independent requested records from Grand Island City Administrator Jeff Pederson and the city's department directors on Feb. 26.

Under Nebraska's Open Records Law (Neb. Rev. Stat. Sections 84-712 through 84-712.09), most government records are presumed to be open, with certain exceptions.

Those exceptions include litigation material, labor negotiations, personal information in personnel records, security information, law enforcement investigation material, appraisal information, medical records, Social Security numbers and the like.

Anyone can make a FOIA request.

"Except as otherwise expressly provided by statute, all citizens of this state, and all other persons interested in the examination of the public records are hereby fully empowered and authorized to examine the same," the Nebraska law states.

Smith said that openness to everyone is important.

"Public records are vitally important to enhance transparency and accountability in government," he said. "Public records are a public resource provided at public expense constituting a lasting, tangible chronicle of government activity."

Smith said that openness should be equal and expedient to everyone.

"Citizens should not be encumbered or discriminated against in the quest for information because of mobility, geography, race or ability to pay," he said. "The nationwide movement to 'e-government' or electronic access to government information has helped improve accessibility. Privatization of government records has hurt access."

The custodian of a public record in Nebraska has four business days after receipt of a request from the public to provide access to the public record or provide a written reason why access was denied.

The city complied with the statutory timeline by providing the cell phone records on March 3 in a hand-delivered envelope to the newspaper office.

The 70 double-sided pages had the last three months' billings and call records for Pederson, Fire Chief Jim Rowell, Human Resources Director Brenda Sutherland, Police Chief Steve Lamken, Public Works Director Steve Riehle, Utilities Director Gary Mader, Emergency Management Director Jon Rosenlund and Assistant Director Larry Smith, Parks and Recreation Director Steve Paustian and 13 additional utilities employees.

Although the records were provided, Pederson, Public Information Officer Wendy Meyer-Jerke and even other city department directors expressed curiosity about the method in which The Independent made its request for cell phone records.

Traditionally, a formal FOIA request has been reserved for obtaining records that the city refused to provide, Meyer-Jerke said.

The Independent has made FOIA requests in the past for finalists for police chief and city administrator, union contract information, wage surveys and 911 calls.

Had The Independent simply asked for the cell phone records, Meyer-Jerke said, the city would have provided the records without the formal request.

The formality of the request and the request itself caused Rowell to even express initial reluctance to distribute information to The Independent about purchase proposals for the former Fire Station No. 1 after he was told by city administration that he needed to make public his cell phone records.

Despite his curiosity, he provided all the records requested of him.

Smith said public records aren't simply government policies, programs, deliberative, legislative or judicial activities and executive activities.

"The communication activities and related records of government employees and officials working to do the people's business are considered public information," Smith said. "This includes e-mail, landline and cell phone activity used in the performance of government work.

"One of the fundamental roles of the free press is to maintain an informed citizenry," Smith continued. "As it has for the past 137 years, The Grand Island Independent has been steadfast in its obligation to provide transparency and accountability in local government."