The stand-off between officials in the Office of Information Practices (OIP) and County of Kaua‘i leaders continues. The latest salvo was fired Thursday by OIP leaders. In a letter dated Aug. 25, OIP Director Leslie Kondo told Kaua‘i County Clerk
The stand-off between officials in the Office of Information Practices (OIP) and County of Kaua‘i leaders continues.
The latest salvo was fired Thursday by OIP leaders.
In a letter dated Aug. 25, OIP Director Leslie Kondo told Kaua‘i County Clerk Peter Nakamura, and by extension County Attorney Lani D.H. Nakazawa, that the redacted (partially blacked out) copies of some executive-session minutes county officials released a week prior were inadequate, and did not meet specific conditions set forth by OIP leaders.
Nakazawa could not be reached for comment Thursday. At issue is a request made June 10 by Walter Lewis and Dr. Ray Chuan, requesting minutes from more than 140 County Council executive sessions dating back to January 2002.
The duo believe the county is in violation of the state sunshine (open-meetings) law, and is squandering taxpayers’ money with delay tactics.
“Based upon the materials provided to us, we simply cannot conclude that you have established that you are entitled to withhold any of the records requested.
Accordingly, we do not believe that there is any basis for our reconsideration of the opinion set forth in our letter dated Aug. 12, 2005. It is our opinion that, in accordance with the Uniform Information Practices Act, you must allow the requesters (Lewis and Chuan) access to the requested records, in their entirety,” Kondo wrote.
According to OIP officials, normally, such a request would be fulfilled in about 10 days. Lewis and Chuan have been waiting almost 10 weeks.
Chuan said it was his impression the OIP leaders had drawn a line in the sand.
“I think they’ve said all they can say on it,” Chuan said.
Both men said if county leaders do not make the records available to them, they are prepared to file a lawsuit.
“We will wait a reasonable time for them to comply,” said Lewis.
County officials’ response to OIP Friday was this: “Ray Chuan and Walter Lewis can get their documents at anytime, but they must pay for search and review time as required by law before they can get the documents. If they don’t pay, Kaua’i’s taxpayers will have to absorb all the costs incurred in responding to their request.
The taxpayers are already subsidizing Lewis and Chuan, because the county’s actual cost to search and review exceed the amount the county is allowed to charge,” according to County Public Information Officer Mary Daubert.
According to Daubert, the charges include $2,740 for searching, reviewing and segregating, and $146.75 for copying charges (577 pages).
The charges are capped at the statutory maximum, and are substantially less than the actual cost of $4,993, according to Daubert.
Chuan said earlier that, between his request, and a separate request and litigation filed June 9 by Mike Ching and other legal actions, Chuan said he was all but certain county leaders had exceeded their $300,000 budgetary allotment for outside counsel.
Kondo‘s Aug. 12 letter to Nakamura said OIP officials sought a “detailed explanation of the CouncilÕs basis of denying the request.”
The OIP letter sought details and statutory exemptions that would allow members of the County Council to withhold the records.
According to Kondo, those were not provided.
Lewis said earlier that members of the County Council are not acting in the spirit of the state‘s sunshine law.
The law provides limited exceptions regarding release of documents to the public, which are to be narrowly construed, as well as specific instances when councilmembers and other elected and appointed officials may exclude the public and press from closed-door, executive sessions, to allow officials in agencies such as the County Council to hold closed meetings to consult with counsel relating to their powers and duties, and certain other matters, he said.
In another county and OIP matter not related to Chuan and Lewis, after taking under
advisement arguments from attorneys for both the OIP and the county, Fifth Circuit Court Judge George Masuoka said he would render his decision this Tuesday, Aug. 30, on OIP‘s motion to dismiss the countyÕs lawsuit concerning its ongoing refusal to release the minutes of an executive-session meeting.
Kondo said that if Masuoka rules in OIP‘s favor, county officials would not be able to appeal OIP‘s decision (that the County Council had violated the stateÕs sunshine law), but could in no way guarantee what county leaders would then do.
Kondo said this decision was made through a series of letters. The battle over access to certain Kaua‘i County Council executive-session minutes dates back to a Jan. 20 County Council executive-session meeting (ES 177), where a possible investigation into the Kaua‘i Police Department was supposed to be the topic.
