Blount County Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

2 of 3 school board chairmen in Blount County see no need to charge to view public records

By Deborah Fisher|2015-03-02T07:30:33-06:00February 23, 2015|Categories: fees|Tags: Blount County, fees for public records, Maryville, Tennessee School Boards Association, The Daily Times|0 Comments

The Daily Times in Maryville asked the three school board chairmen in Blount County what they thought about changing the law to allow local governments to charge citizens to view public records. Two said they saw no need for it in their school districts, while the third appeared to rely on an example that wouldn't even apply. The Blount County school board chairman who favored allowing new fees described a situation in which the school district's fiscal administrator spent several hours writing responses for a citizen about the school district's budgets. “Each item dealt with finances and interpretation of policy, and he wrote two- to three-paragraph responses to educate the reader [...]

When police shoot a citizen, public records can shed light

It’s not always easy to obtain public records, but when they are critical to answering questions about an issue of public interest, knowing the law and persistence helps. On Aug. 21, 2013, a Blount County Sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a citizen who was in his own garage. The young sheriff’s deputy was doing a property check because the citizen had reported two burglaries there earlier in the week. He shined a light through a window, saw a man with a gun, and fired multiple shots in what the sheriff later said was a “very tragic incident.” The Daily Times in Maryville kept tabs on the case, which was being [...]