Roswell may amend open records policy

By DELANEY TARR delaney@appenmedia.com

ROSWELL, Ga. — The Roswell City Council advanced a resolution March 14 that would require people to provide a “verifiable” name and address when submitting open records requests.

At the city’s Administration, Finance, Recreation and Parks Committee meeting, all but one of the councilmembers voted in favor of the resolution. Councilwoman Sarah Beeson cast a dissenting vote.

The resolution states that anyone requesting a public record must provide a “verifiable name and address.”

Roswell public records, like police reports and city emails are available via open records requests. Anyone can file a request for the information. Once filed, city staff must gather the records. If the records search requires time to gather, the city then charges the applicant a fee when the request is filled.

Mayor Kurt Wilson said the resolution is focused on protecting the public’ tax dollars, because the city is “inundated” with time-consuming open records requests.

Under the resolution, the city would not fill requests for “unverifiable” requestors. The council did not specify what the verification process would entail. Anyone who wants to remain anonymous would be able to go to City Hall to inspect, copy and pay for public documents.

Wilson said the policy change would not impact the city’s position that “all information inside of the city is open and accessible to all residents.”

Wilson said there have been incidents with fake requests, spurring the push for verification.

He cited a specific request in which the city clerk, Marlee Press, noticed the name of the person requesting documents did not align with the provided email address. When the clerk reached out to the resident, they denied every filing an open records request.

City Attorney David Davidson said he spoke to the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, and the city cannot make people pay in advance for the retrieval, redaction and copy of records. The resolution, Davidson said is “simply following state law.”

Councilman Mike Palermo said he supports the resolution, because it’s a “clear focus on creating more efficiencies for Roswell residents, the media

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and any people requesting.”

Councilwoman Sarah Beeson was adamantly against the proposed change.

“I cannot be emphatic enough about how much I oppose this resolution,” Beeson said.

The councilwoman cited state law that dictates any person, corporation or entity may request access to public records.

“I’m of the frame of mind that Mickey Mouse himself can be requesting this information, and it should not change the context nor the amount of information that’s provided,” Beeson said.

Wilson argued that if he can legiti- mately prove he is Mickey Mouse, that’s fine, but he should not be able to pose as another person.

“Why can’t I just say I’m Kurt Wilson, and I’m asking for this information,” Wilson said. “What’s wrong with that?”

Beeson responded that the “burden of transparency does not lie on the private residents, but rather on the public entity.”

Beeson also questioned the basis of allowing anonymity if a physical presence is required in City Hall, saying it “defeats the purpose” of not giving a name.

Mayor Wilson argued that most people who come to City Hall are anonymous, because they do not have to present identification.

“Nobody has to give their name, ever,” City Attorney Davidson said. “They can simply make a request and all the documents will be prepared, they’ll be copied and they’ll be sit - ting waiting when they come in to get them.”

Concerns around unverifiable names and addresses centered on the amount of work it takes to fill open records requests, especially requests that can total hundreds of documents.

Councilmembers said verification will guarantee that a person cannot avoid being charged for requests.

The city clerk did not say whether there has been an instance of anybody failing to pay the costs for an open records request, but she stated that many people often say they do not want certain documents once the cost estimate is provided.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Roswell having rules in place to curb the abuses that are going on currently,” Councilman Peter Vanstrom said.

The resolution was moved forward to the next regularly scheduled Roswell City Council meeting.

CHART BY CARL APPEN/APPEN MEDIA

The City of Roswell is discussing changes to its open record policies, claiming it receives far more requests than any other city. Appen Media decided to find out if that’s true. It’s not.