Panama City News Herald

Some cell phone records lacking

By Tony Bridges

PANAMA CITY

The law is clear: Florida public records are available to any person who wants to see them, with few restrictions on how or why.

Just ask for the records, and, unless they are specifically exempted by state law, public officials must hand them over in a reasonable amount of time. No one is required to provide a name or put the request in writing.

As part of the annual Sunshine Week, in which newspapers and open-government advocates across the nation highlight public access, The News Herald requested cell phone records for the mayor of each city in Bay County to see how officials would respond.

It turned out a majority of Bay County mayors conduct public business on their private cell phones, and the cities are not keeping records of those calls.

This is how it went: A reporter called City Hall in each town from an anonymous line and asked for the mayor’s most recent cell phone bill. Of the eight cities, all requested a name and phone number for callback, and only one, Parker, required the request be made in writing.

Parker Mayor Brenda Hendricks said she did not know Florida Statute 119, the open records law, does not allow for such restrictions. She said getting requests in writing helps city workers know exactly what has been requested.

“We don’t care why they want it; we just need to make sure we can produce the record they want,” she said, adding the city likely will change its procedure. “We’re going to go by whatever the statutes are.”

In Cedar Grove, Deputy City Clerk Dana Archambault took the request and immediately agreed to produce the phone bills. When she asked for contact information, a first name and number sufficed.

“I’ll get with the finance officer and call and tell you when it’s ready,” she said.

Within minutes, she phoned to say there were no records because the city does not pay for Mayor Nathan Lisenby’s cell phone.

That also was the case with Panama City, Panama City Beach, Callaway and Mexico Beach. Both Springfield and Lynn Haven give their mayors cell phones, and each provided copies of the bills at a cost of 15 cents per page.

Panama City Mayor Scott Clemons said he already had a cell phone as part of a group plan with his financial services company and simply kept it when he was elected. He estimated about 25 percent of his calls relate to city business.

Not uncommon

It isn’t uncommon for elected officials to use their personal cell phones when conducting public business, according to Adria Harper, director of the Florida First Amendment Foundation. But they might not realize that even though taxpayers aren’t footing the cell phone bills, the records of those calls are public, she said.

“If it’s used to transact public business, it’s ... a public document,” Harper said.

When asked whether he would consider his calling records public, Clemons said that could become tricky because of the confidential nature of his financial work.

“I have an inclination to be very open,” he said. “But I also have to protect the privacy of my clients.”

However, he said, he would consider the city-related calls to be public, if the others were redacted.

“I guess I’d be open to that,” he said. “That’s a reasonable request.”

The problem is many public agencies have no system in place for maintaining personal cell phone records, and sometimes, even the officials making and receiving the calls cannot remember which numbers on the bill were personal and which were business, Harper said.

“Because these are personal phones, I think it makes it a little more difficult for the agency to navigate in terms of the public records law,” she said. “A lot of them will just turn it over, the whole thing, just for convenience. Other times, a battle will ensue.”

She said it should be up to city governments and other public agencies to decide whether to give cell phones to their elected officials, as long as they are prepared to follow state law.

“No matter what they decide, they have to have a policy in place, preferably written, that addresses the public records aspect,” she said.

Reproduced courtesy of the Panama City News Herald.
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