The law says “promptly” when it comes to public records requests
A news reporter in Nashville called me recently when a public information officer for the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency refused to release a document that had been voted upon a few days earlier by a subcommittee of the public agency’s board of directors. The full board of directors was set to vote on it in less than a week. It was not secret document. It had no confidential information. It was an agreement that outlined how a developer would get $12.5 million in taxpayer money through tax-increment financing to help him build a $225 million skyscraper in downtown Nashville. The public information officer told the reporter that he could [...]