City’s “Sunshine” Data Shrouded in Darkness
In the continuance of our mission to increase local government transparency, we have requested data on the usage of the city’s “sunshine request” online portal. This was prompted by the Custodian of Record for Mayor Spencer’s office pushing back on complaints about how long it takes to get responses to requests. In a conversation, she stated that the reason it takes so long to get responses is due to the sheer volume of public information requests that are received. After speaking with other portal users, it seemed that many doubted that the portal’s usage was so heavy that it would cause the delays commonly experienced by journalists, researchers, and others seeking information. The request for portal data was sent to the City Counselor’s office, which houses the portal’s staff and is listed as the agency to contact on the city website. It seemed to be a straightforward attempt to verify that the city is actually receiving so many information requests that they can’t be answered in a timely fashion. In the weeks that have passed since the request was submitted, the city has pushed back the date of information availability multiple times.
To be clear, the data requested was not complicated. We asked for the number of requests submitted and also how many were being completed. Our request sought this data for the past two years and was submitted on December 12th. We asked that this data be broken down by either month or quarter. We additionally asked that, if possible, the data be further broken down by department. The city has many departments, most with their own Custodian of Record. When submitting a request, you are asked to choose the department to which your request will be directed. Our goal in seeking data broken down by department was to see if some are more responsive than others. Our own experience indicates that this is the case, as the Board of Aldermen tends to be far more responsive compared to departments under the mayor’s control. This data should have been easily exported from their system. Frankly, the city should be doing this on a regular basis, if only to monitor whether departments are complying with state law. If the city really cared about transparency, then it would only make sense that city staff would be producing reports as part of regular department monitoring.
There likely isn’t a good reason this data hasn’t been provided in response to our public information request. There was no request for legally sensitive documents or information about a controversial board bill or real estate development deal. There was no request for a complicated analysis of the city sunshine portal data. We simply requested basic data to verify that the city was doing its job and respecting Missouri law. Of course, one can’t help but wonder why city officials would be unwilling to give the public data about the number of information requests received and completed. Why hold this information back?
Despite every recent mayor declaring their love for government transparency, the culture of concealment continues to thrive at city hall. If city officials want the public to trust them, then they should act in a manner that inspires trust. That is not done by saying that the sheer volume of demand is generating the delays, then dragging your feet when asked to show said demand is real.
