Public Records Archives - Page 50 of 74 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

26 Oct, 2015

Knoxville News Sentinel: State holds back emails on outsourcing project

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-27T16:21:26-05:00October 26, 2015|Categories: deliberative process privilege|Tags: Bill Haslam, deliberative process privilege, email, Greg Adams, Judge Richard Dinkins, outsourcing|0 Comments

Governor Bill Haslam's office released 72 pages of emails of his chief operating officer in charge of the state's building-management outsourcing project, but held back some, saying they fell under a "deliberative process" exemption to the Tennessee Public Records Act. The Knoxville News Sentinel and The Commercial Appeal requested correspondence dating back to September 2014 of Greg Adams relating to the controversial outsourcing plan. Haslam's office has been considering the plan since November, but news of it did not become public until Aug. 17 when a "request for information" from potential vendors was posted on the state procurement office website. The released correspondence offered new insight into the governor's office response to the [...]

23 Oct, 2015

Bringing in TBI to investigate deadly force by police raises transparency question

By Deborah Fisher|2018-11-09T08:21:39-06:00October 23, 2015|Categories: crime records|Tags: police shootings, State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, State Sen. Brian Kelsey, TBI|0 Comments

The Tennessean reports today that two of the state's major police departments - Knoxville and Nashville - are opposed to a proposal that would hand all investigations into local police killings to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. When someone is killed by a local law enforcement officer, the large police departments in the state historically have conducted their own investigations to determine if lethal force was justified, or if there was wrongdoing on the part of the officer. Under open records law in Tennessee, documents from a closed police investigation are accessible to the public, allowing transparency into the process. State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis Two Memphis lawmakers - [...]

19 Oct, 2015

Police, ACLU, open government advocates talk body cam footage

By Deborah Fisher|2015-10-20T08:44:57-05:00October 19, 2015|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: ACLU, David Rausch, police body cameras, State Sen. Brian Kelsey, State Sen. Sara Kyle|1 Comment

Representatives from police, the ACLU, the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, the Tennessee Press Association and one of the largest vendors of body cams offered thoughts today to the state Senate Judiciary Committee on the use of body cameras to record interactions between law enforcement and citizens. Several police departments are moving forward with plans to equip their officers with body cameras, raising issues of how the cameras will be used, how long video will be retained and what is releasable under the state's public records laws. See video: Hearing on body camera footage before the Tennessee State Senate Judiciary Committee (Body cameras start at 2:45) The Knox County Sheriff's Office, [...]

16 Oct, 2015

AP: Haslam defends recommendation for advisers to avoid email

By Deborah Fisher|2021-12-28T11:18:20-06:00October 16, 2015|Categories: deliberative process privilege, email|Tags: Bill Haslam, deliberative process privilege, email, outsourcing|0 Comments

Another story on government email from Erik Schelzig with the Associated Press: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam is defending a practice among his outsourcing advisers to avoid email correspondence to prevent information getting out to the public. The Republican governor told reporters after an economic development conference this week that it's a standard practice of "sharing some wisdom" with new employees who have come to government from the private sector that all of their correspondence is subject to Tennessee's open records laws. "Any government that comes into office, the very first day they say, careful what you put in that email, because unless you want to see it [...]

15 Oct, 2015

AP: Tennessee officials told to avoid emailing about outsourcing

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-27T16:18:43-05:00October 15, 2015|Categories: email|Tags: email, outsourcing, privatization, Terry Cowles|0 Comments

From the Associated Press, by way of the Chattanooga Times Free Press - a story about government email: NASHVILLE, Tenn. --- Officials mulling over the privatization of operations at state buildings, college campuses, prisons and armories are being discouraged from putting their thoughts into emails. Terry Cowles, who is in charge of Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's office of Strategies for Efficiency in Real Estate Management, or SEREM, told reporters Tuesday that the group "put that control in place" to prevent the release of what he called premature or incorrect information. "We want to provide you all and the public with as much information as we can, but we have to [...]