Local officials get passing grade for FOI response

Listen to this article

Back in school, a 70 Percent score on an exam was seen as passing. The teacher never identified it as “excellent” or “good.” Rather, papers and exams in the 70th percentile frequently bore the word “average.”

So it could be said that when it comes to responding to requests for public information, Wisconsin gets a passing grade, but is only average. A recent study by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council found that seven out of 10 requests for public information were properly filled.

The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication worked together to conduct the study. They ended up reviewing 318 public records requests filed in 65 counties.

The records that were requested included “minutes of local school board meetings, jail booking logs of county sheriff’s offices, police calls to local high schools from city police departments, legal fees paid by town boards, and a day’s worth of e-mails from local mayors or city administrators.”

Sadly, one out of 10 officials refused the request or simply failed to respond to the requests. Another 20 percent of the time, public officials asked to see identification of the person asking the information or wanting an explanation of why the information was sought before disclosing the information.

Wisconsin FOI President Bill Lueders said the problems that arose with some of the requests were due to “a lack of training or awareness and are not because public officials like to keep secrets.”

To review the full audit, go to http://www.wisfoic.org/audit/index.html.