requests Archives - Page 10 of 11 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

5 May, 2015

Memphis report charts new approach to handling public records requests

By Deborah Fisher|2015-06-19T16:53:45-05:00May 5, 2015|Categories: Public Records, requests|Tags: A C Wharton Jr., fees for public records, Memphis, Mike Carpenter, open data, public records request, public records training, Sunlight Foundation, The Commercial Appeal|0 Comments

A top-to-bottom review presented to the mayor of Memphis last week charts a new approach to handling public records requests in Tennessee and takes direct aim at improving the underlying culture of openness. Among the 23 recommendations, it suggests a “fresh start” by re-assigning current public records custodians “to prevent adoption of incorrect methods or bad habits that have formed as part of the culture of the division or the department in which they work.” It talks about a “customer-friendly attitude,” suggests appointing a public records ombudsman to resolve disputes, and recommends a training program that would include a mix of city officials, media representatives and citizens “so each can gain [...]

28 Jan, 2015

Judge’s order in case about Sumner County Board of Education’s restrictive request policy

By Deborah Fisher|2015-01-28T12:26:49-06:00January 28, 2015|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee, requests|Tags: Jeremy Johnson, Judge Dee David Gay, Ken Jakes, public records request, Sumner County School Board|0 Comments

Sumner County Judge Dee David Gay signed an order last week denying a summary judgment to the Sumner County Board of Education in a public records case about its restrictive request policy. The order reflects the findings in a hearing on Jan. 9, when the school board argued that it had the right to essentially ban citizens from calling or emailing to make a request to view public records, and instead to require all such requests to be mailed by U.S. Postal Service, or made in person. The lawsuit was filed by Ken Jakes, who had emailed the school board's community relations supervisor, Jeremy Johnson, asking to see the district's public [...]

19 Jan, 2015

Friedmann seeks appeal of public records request case on in-person appearance requirement

By Deborah Fisher|2019-09-11T18:53:20-05:00January 19, 2015|Categories: requests|Tags: Alex Friedmann, attorney's fees, Chancellor J.B. Cox, Marshall County, Prison Legal News, public records request, Robert Dalton, Sheriff Norman Dalton|0 Comments

Alex Friedmann, managing editor of Prison Legal News, has filed a request to appeal a Marshall County chancery court ruling last year that ordered release of records he requested, but declined to rule that one of his requests was denied because he would not appear in person to make the request. Friedmann began his request Feb. 3, 2014, with a letter to the Marshall County Sheriff's Department requesting disclosures of jail policies concerning inmate mail, inmate grievance policy, inmate medical care policies, whether the jail maintains a formulatory of medications for inmates, a copy of the jail's phone service contract, a contingency request if the jail is paid a commission on prisoner [...]

13 Jan, 2015

The Tennessean gives state Tuesday deadline to fulfill July public records request

By Deborah Fisher|2015-01-13T12:58:59-06:00January 13, 2015|Categories: requests|Tags: public records request, Robb Harvey, TennCare, The Tennessean|0 Comments

The Tennessean gave the state a Tuesday deadline to fulfill a public records request it originally made in July last year as it considers asking a court to intervene, the newspaper reported today. The news organization had requested from TennCare emails and documents related to the state's massive Medicaid debacle in which it could not properly process applications despite buying a $35.7 million new computer system. (The backlog led to a federal lawsuit, and the agency yesterday said it was firing its vendor Northrop Grumman, and hiring another one.) After narrowing the request in September, the newspaper got an estimate of $4,139.56 for costs to compile and copy the records, which [...]

11 Jan, 2015

Judge allows public records lawsuit against Sumner County schools to proceed

By Deborah Fisher|2015-01-12T14:51:08-06:00January 11, 2015|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee, requests|Tags: Del Phillips, Jeremy Johnson, Judge Dee David Gay, Ken Jakes, Kirk Clements, litigation, public records request, requests by email, Sumner County, Sumner County School Board, Todd Presnell|0 Comments

Sumner County Judge Dee David Gay listens to arguments by attorney Kirk Clements, who says his client was wrongly denied access to public records. GALLATIN -- The Sumner County School Board lost the first round in a court fight Friday to be able to reject public records requests from citizens who make those requests by email or phone. The school district’s policy requires citizens to make public records requests by U.S. mail or by appearing in person, according to Jeremy Johnson, the school district’s board and community relations supervisor. Because of this, Johnson told citizen Ken Jakes that his request by email to view a public record was [...]