News - Page 81 of 125 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

11 Feb, 2016

Sumner Schools files emergency motion with Appeals Court over public records policy

By Deborah Fisher|2019-09-11T18:56:17-05:00February 11, 2016|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Court of Appeals, Judge Dee David Gay, Ken Jakes, Sumner County Schools, Todd Presnell|0 Comments

The Sumner County Board of Education, whose legal bills have now mounted to more than $113,000, has made an emergency motion to the Court of Appeals to stay a judge's order to update their public records policy to come into compliance with the law. Read: Emergency Motion for Review of Stay Order They argue that receiving a citizen's request through the telephone would require system upgrades costing more than $45,660 and receiving requests through email would cost $22,500 annually, in addition to time training staff on how to use the equipment to receive public records requests by these methods. In November, Sumner County Judge Dee David Gay found that the school [...]

11 Feb, 2016

Bill shortens public notice for zoning changes in Nashville

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-11T08:22:48-06:00February 11, 2016|Categories: adequate public notice|Tags: Davidson County, Nashville, public hearings, public notice, State Rep. Darren Jernigan, State Sen. Ferrell Haile|0 Comments

A bill that would shorten the amount of time of public notice for public hearings on zoning changes in Metropolitan Nashville passed unanimously in a key Senate committee and a House subcommittee this week. The bill, S.B. 1809 / H.B. 1848, would change the law that requires Davidson County to provide 30 days public notice prior to a public hearing on an amendment to a county zoning ordinance. It reduces that time to 15 days. Davidson County is the only county in the state required by law to give a 30-day notice, a point made by Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, the bill’s Senate sponsor. “I would classify this as a cleanup [...]

11 Feb, 2016

Nashville General hospital report outlining deficiencies exempt from public records law, attorney says

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-11T07:35:41-06:00February 11, 2016|Categories: exemptions|Tags: hospital, Metro Nashville, Nashville General, Walter F. Roche Jr.|0 Comments

Nashville General has declined to release its report from the Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation that identified "serious deficiencies in several areas including patient safety, infection control and staffing," reports Walter F. Roche Jr. on his blog. Roche, a former investigative editor and reporter with The Tennessean who now writes a blog on Tennessee issues, requested to see the report after the hospital received an emergency infusion of $10 million from Davidson County Metro Council, part of which will be used to address the problems. In the blog post, Nashville General won't release critical report, Roche writes also that council members only received a summary of the report: Citing an exception [...]

3 Feb, 2016

The Tennessean: Sumner Schools legal bills climb to $113K in public records case

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-03T18:32:59-06:00February 3, 2016|Categories: Uncategorized|0 Comments

After months of questioning from journalists, the Sumner County School District released more information in January on how much it is paying a Nashville law firm to represent it in a public records lawsuit. The school district is defending its ability to deny access to records if the person requesting to see the records does not make the request by U.S. Mail or in person. From reporter Jennifer Easton with The Tennessean: Sumner County Schools' most recent legal bills show the district has spent more than $113,000 defending an open records case now headed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals. Sumner school board members voted unanimously on Dec. 1, 2015 to appeal [...]

3 Feb, 2016

Bill would make names of cybersecurity vendors secret

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-03T16:11:48-06:00February 3, 2016|Categories: Uncategorized|0 Comments

A Haslam administration bill that would make secret the identities of companies who have cybersecurity contracts with state and local governments passed its first hurdle in the House State Government Subcommittee today, but not without some questions from the subcommittee's chair. The bill seeks to extend an exemption already in state law that protects information that would allow "unauthorized access" to electronic information processing systems, telecommunications systems or other communications systems of any governmental entity in Tennessee. It would insert new language that makes secret the identity of the vendors who provide the goods and services used to protect those systems. (See HB 1543 / SB 2546) Currently the law specifically states that [...]