Letters to the Editor

Tyrone manager withholds public info

Tue, 05/23/2006 - 4:56pm
By: Letters to the ...

I e-mailed Barry Amos for some information about Tyrone but got the runaround and finally was told I could have it for $49. Here is the e-mail I sent:

I would like some information about this great town of Tyrone.
1. How many residents lived within the town in 2005?
2. What was the salary for the town manager in 2005?
3. What was the salary for the chief of police for 2005?
4. What was the salary for the mayor for 2005?
5. How many police officers and staff did Tyrone have in 2005?
6. How many citations were issued per month in 2005?
7. How many service calls did the police department have per month in 2005?

I got the runaround with different e-mails but no information, then Barry e-mailed me and said he had all the information on 14 pages at a cost of $3.50 per page, $49 or $7 per question!

I e-mailed Barry back that I was not asking for reams of paper, just the answers. He made no more e-mail or any other calls.

I also e-mailed Peachtree City on March 29 for information about the same questions plus some more and I received their answers the very next day with all the questions answered and more information than I have asked for.

I have copies of these if you need to see them.

I hope to hear from you or see something in the paper about this.

Hugh O’Neil
Tyrone, Ga.

The editor replies: We applaud a citizen exercising his right to receive public information about the operation of his elected government. According to Georgia’s open records laws, the maximum amount that can legally be charged is 25 cents per copied page (50-18-71(c)). Thus $3.50 per page seems excessive. One would assume the town manager would know that. An appeals court case decided in 2000 (Howard v. Sumter Free Press, Inc., 272 Ga. 521) also awarded attorney’s fees of $2,000 plus court costs to the party trying to get from the sheriff of that county the same records available to everyone else. Perhaps a reminder to the town manager of how costly his official reluctance to obey the clear requirements of state law can be would be your next step. If you still have trouble, let us know.

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Getting information from public officials
mapleleaf's picture
Submitted by mapleleaf on Wed, 05/24/2006 - 3:59pm.

May I make a suggestion?

There is an art to getting the information one needs under the Georgia Open Records Act, and it is not a matter of just trying to apply the blunt force of the law upon officials.

What generally works best is to ask to be permitted to examine those documents which disclose the information one wants. It's like making an appointment. You ask for a place and a time where it would be convenient. You ask that the documents be made available for your inspection. All that should be free.

Step One is generally to say you are making your request under the Georgia Open Records Act. Step Two is to ask to be permitted to inspect the documents in the possession of the public official which disclose [and here you name the information you are looking for]. Step Three is to ask for a place and time that would be convenient to the official.

Since a lot of these officials don't really want to see you personally at their place of business, then you diplomatically suggest that they might find it more convenient to simply e-mail the information directly to you. If they do it, you are in great shape.

If they don't have time to send you the information, then they'll have to put up with a visit from you. You don't want them to make you wait, so you ask for an appointment ahead of time. You can negotiate on this. If they don't want to pull documents out of file folders, then they have to show you where the folder is and to let you look. You can take down all the notes you want. If you want a photocopy, then the charge is 25 cents per copy.

If the information is not readily available and the officials have to work to produce it, then they have to tell you how much it would cost, and you can decide whether it is worth it.

I concede that some officials aren't enthusiastic or cooperative on this. But people who use a little diplomacy often have more success, and it is worth trying the diplomatic approach first. Lawsuits can turn into expensive gambles, especially against public officials who use taxpayer money to pay for their lawyers.


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Public Information
Submitted by Don Rehwaldt on Sun, 06/04/2006 - 1:26pm.

Asking for Public Information from Fairburn has always been great! They are willing to help and, more often than not, do not even charge a penny.
Some time in the past, I called Valerie and asked for a document! No problem, come on down. Suspecting that this might be too easy, I armed myself with an open records request. Sure enough, I get to Town Hall and, lo and behold, they can't find it. It was at this point that I presented the open records request. The document was on my computer within the hour. Amazing!

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Getting Information from Public Officials
Voice of Fayette Future's picture
Submitted by Voice of Fayett... on Wed, 05/24/2006 - 4:39pm.

Eyinvest makes some decent suggestions. The root problem though, is that many "public servants" can't be bothered. I agree with Eyinvest--- if you walk in and you are polite you may get a lot of help but not from someone who doesn't want to do their job or deal with the public. I have worked with our subdivision on county records. You would be surprissed. Some times you get help. Other times they send it on to the county lawyers. Then you get treated like a criminal. The only deterrent is when a newspaper does it. It is shameful though when somebody in Fayette working for the government say that they gotta charge you $50 to tell you the time of day.


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everyone has had the same problem
Submitted by too bad on Wed, 05/24/2006 - 11:01am.

Many have played the email game with them once. Valerie likes it best. You ask for something, and they give you some lame answer. The funniest was exposed at town hall one night. A member of a subdvision stated they had been trying to get info for sometime. The final reply from town manager was that it would cost them about 450.00 for the records they wanted and about another 450.00 to fix Barry's computer. It seems he stated the records they wanted were stuck in his computuer for months and that is how much it would cost for a new hard drive to get them out.

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No surprise there!
Submitted by 1bighammer on Wed, 05/24/2006 - 9:41am.

Its no surprise to anyone that keeps up with Tyrone business that Barry Amos did this. Its all about power and control. He who controls the information, has the power. I am continually amazed at how stupid the folks at Tyrone Town Hall think their citizens are!

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Well, actually they are stupid 1bighammer.
Robert W. Morgan's picture
Submitted by Robert W. Morgan on Sun, 06/04/2006 - 8:10am.

The citizens of Tyrone are the ones that elected their mayor and city council, not just this last time, but all of them. And all of them includes the mayor and council who fought John Wieland in 1987 against the advice of their attorney and the few with common sense who knew there would be a lawsuit and that Tyrone would lose.

One mayor and council must have have hired Barry and other mayors and councils have let him build his little empire with absolutely no oversight - and the people of Tyrone elected them as well.

Fortunately, with all the people moving into Wieland's many subdivisions, the political power will change and it won't be long before Tyrone is run by by Yankees, first-generation Americans and people of diverse gender, religion and race.

The old-school Tyronese may want to support an aggressive program of rezoning and sewer expansion in order to sell their large-acreage home sites to developers for top dollar.


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"Tyronese?" Robert?
H. Hamster's picture
Submitted by H. Hamster on Sun, 06/04/2006 - 7:14pm.

Isn't that a bit over the top?

Sure they are challenged up there when it it comes to development issues since they think they live in a rural bubble, but making a racial slur is not appropriate. Maybe because their view on reality is slanted why you picked that term, but you are out of line dude.


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Tyrone Shenanigans
Submitted by ttownconcerned on Wed, 05/24/2006 - 3:43pm.

Tyrone Shenanigans

Any time you ask for info at Town Hall, Barry and Valerie play games just like the County always does. You have to ask exactly the right question, the right way, in the right manner, on the right day or whoops, you get hosed and they don't respond. That's the problem with most of these bureaucrats with Sunshine Laws. They think its a game where they try to keep you guessing and not help you. If you have a reasonable request they should say "How can I help you find what you are interested in ? "

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evinvest is right
mudcat's picture
Submitted by mudcat on Wed, 05/24/2006 - 6:57pm.

You need to appeal to their sense of power and realize they always take the easiest path. This is everywhere - not just Barry and his partner, although they are the worst local case by far.

What eyeinvest says is perfect. Tell them - "Gee whiz, I know you are really busy and so am I, but if I could just get this information somehow without forcing you to make copies or me to come in and get them -- maybe e-mail. Could you do that for me? It would save us both a lot of time. Thank you. You are so helpful."

Phony, sure. Effective, yes indeed.
meow


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