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Checks, but no balances School system produces some paid checks, but no actual accounting A few bloggers seem to miss the point of my earlier column: I received NO invoices detailing attorneys’ fees in my open records request. Instead, I received mostly copies of school system checks that listed only the numbers of the invoices being paid -- NOT the invoices themselves -- with no detail on what the invoices contained or when they were dated. The checks (with totals detailed below) document only that these checks were issued and were cashed. We cannot tell if there were other checks or more checks for legal services. The check copies give no accounting of whether other legal fees were charged or the state of the accounts receivable (in other words, were there invoices for services that were not paid yet or were still pending). I asked our reporter John Munford to tally up the raw data from the check copies. That is reproduced below, along with notations of checks that either seem to be missing for time periods or that were not provided to us. There’s no way to tell if the copies of checks represent all or only a portion of the legal work done for the school system. And there is certainly no way to tell what part of the legal fees were spent on “routine” school system business and what part was spent on staff inquiries in preparation for the November SPLOST vote. An accountant would say to the school system: This is a start, but you’ve got a lot more documentation to come up with before we can tell what you spent this money for. Unfortunately, the school system is hiding the real stuff behind a flimsy curtain of “attorney-client privilege.” The Citizen’s attorney will be in touch with the school system’s attorney about these suddenly secret records. We’ll keep you posted. Summary of checks in FCBOE open records response: Paid to Harben, Hartley and Hawkins LLP Amount......Date of Check $7,460.45......Aug. 29 ‘08 (NO RECORDS in between April 18 and June 30 — is May missing?) $8,372.18......April 18 ‘08 (NO RECORDS in between Dec. 14 ‘07 and April 18 — are Jan/Feb/March missing) $9,368.33......Dec. 14 ‘07 subtotal......44,645.76 $16,461.17......Sept. 14, ‘07 subtotal......87,231 Grand total......$131,876.76 (Possibly missing checks for January, February, March and May 2008) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [Below column posted Sept. 5, 2008] School system gets an 'F'; keeps secret its attorney's invoices; Superintendent John DeCotis, what are you trying to hide? I promised you an update on my open records request to the Fayette County School System. At this point I give the system a grade of “F - Incomplete.” The system responded within the statutory time limit of three business days. In fact, on Tuesday (Sept. 2) I received a telephone message that my open records request (reproduced below) had been received and responded to. The following day (Sept. 3) I received a letter from Reanee Ellis, the system director of human resources, detailing what they were willing to release and what they were holding back: 67 pages of documents that would be available for my inspection at no charge. I subsequently paid $16.75 for copies of the documents. The part I didn’t like was this: “Pursuant to O.C.G.A. 50-18-72(e)(1), we will redact or remove the narrative description of the services provided based on the attorney client privilege.” All I really got was copies of checks written to Harben, Hartley & Hawkins, LLP of Gainesville, Ga. with only invoice numbers listed on the checks, dating back to January 2007. The file contained a few letters from HHH with notification of unspecified services related to “due process” hearings, deductibles and a couple of bond refinancings statements. No invoices of legal services. No details of legal hours billed. It is a bare-bones collection of checks written with no specificity whatsoever. Dr. Ellis said that the attorney told them the invoices fell within the attorney-client privilege, an exception under the Open Records law. Having personally viewed attorney’s invoices to public entities, including hours billed for named projects, several times over the past 20 years, I respectfully disagree with the attorney. Even so, as Georgia case law clearly states, the privilege of secrecy belongs to the client, NOT to the attorney. In other words, the client — in this case the public school system of Fayette County, as headed by its superintendent, John DeCotis — is completely legally empowered and free to release all records of contacts with its attorneys — including invoices and billable hours accounting — and the attorney has no standing to object. So, Dr. DeCotis, what do you have to hide from the people of Fayette County? What do you not want them to know about what you have been spending taxpayers’ money on? With the school system raising property taxes and calling for a $115 million SPLOST vote in two months, you might think the system and Dr. DeCotis would welcome a scrutiny of its spending of our money. You might think that, but you would be wrong. Instead, it seems that Dr. DeCotis and the school system is saying, “Give us your money, give us what we ask for, but don’t ask us to account for how we spend it.” Dr. DeCotis, you got my $16.75 today. It was a waste of my money. You didn’t give me what I asked for and what I, as a taxpayer, have a right to receive. Why should I — or any other voter — give you millions more until you decide to tell us what you are doing with what you have already taken from us? The school system is awarded a grade of “F - incomplete” on openness and responsiveness to my open records request. We’ll see if we have to take them to the principal’s office — Fayette Superior Court — to teach them that they work for the public. I’ll keep you posted on how this develops. [Posted Sept. 5, 2008.] [The item below was posted Aug. 28,2008.] Following the publication of a letter to the editor from a local taxpayer seeking records of SPLOST discussions within the Fayette County School System, I was struck by how daunting it must be for the average citizen to obtain what should be easily recoverable public records from local governments — in this case the board of education and the school system. The school system lawyer told the taxpayer it would cost her around $2,000 to look at documentation of discussions about the $115 million SPLOST that will be on the November ballot. He offered no other alternatives. That struck me as excessively expensive and close to obstructionist. After all, our tax dollars paid for those documents and the people who wrote them. One would think that we owners should expect more cooperation on the part of officials who now want an additional $120 million out of our wallets (the SPLOST plus the newly raised property tax rates). I became curious about how often a high-priced lawyer gets involved with requests to the school system for records that belong to us, so I filed the following Open Records request with the school system Aug. 28. I will keep you posted on how quickly I get a response and how cooperative (or obstructionist) the system and its lawyer will be. Consider this a test that the school system must by law take. We, the taxpayers, will grade them on how well they respond to the people who pay their salaries. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Open records request — Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008 To: The custodian of records for the Fayette County Board of Education and the Fayette County School System From: Cal Beverly Subject: This constitutes an official request by me personally and/or my designated agent on behalf of my newspaper to inspect all records — including invoices, statements, bills, financial recaps, budget documents, etc. — containing information about legal services and attorneys’ services paid for or billed to the school system and board of education from the officially designated attorney for the school board and any and all other legal services billed to or paid for by the school system and/or board of education for the period beginning Jan. 1, 2007, to the present date. This explicitly includes any attorneys’ statements and invoices detailing billable hours. These financial records have to do with public taxpayers’ funds and are not excludable for inspection under any provision of the Georgia Open Records laws. I or a representative of my newspaper will personally inspect these records. We will pay any lawful fees set by statute involved with the compilation of records, not to exceed $100.00 (one hundred dollars) without my prior written authorization to exceed that amount. However, this is a straightforward request for easily identifiable records of financial transactions, and should be easily recoverable through a general ledger accounting code number for quick, computerized compilation. Thus I would not expect there to be any charges for an in-person inspection of these particular public records. Hard-copy files also should exist of invoices and statements detailing billable hours for attorneys’ and other legal services and should be easily located and produced. Per statute, the system and board have three business days in which to reply to my request and then a reasonable time following that to produce the actual records for an in-person inspection. Thus, per the state law, I expect to hear from you no later than close of business Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008, and to inspect ALL the requested records within five business days following that. Also, please include an accounting of the cost of the attorney for his/her review of this particular request for access to the specified public records. In addition, please specify whether it is school system or board of education policy to subject any, some or all public records inspection requests to an attorney’s review before such records are made available to the public, and how such determinations are made and by whom. My business telephone number is 770-719-1880. My email address is editor@thecitizen.com. My mailing address is P.O. Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Cal Beverly 
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