New Albany violated public records law, public access counselor says

Brooke McAfee, The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
·4 min read

Oct. 20—NEW ALBANY — Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt has released an advisory opinion stating that the City of New Albany violated the Access to Public Records Act [APRA].

Britt released his opinion Thursday in response to a Sept. 6 complaint filed by New Albany Councilman Josh Turner against the city. According to Turner, the city failed to respond to his public records requests seeking a list of expenditures.

The advisory opinion states that the city is in violation of the public records law for failing to acknowledge Turner's request.

"I expected this to happen, but I'm sad it had to go this far," Turner said. "It's unfortunate that the city, with as many public records requests as I've done, that they refuse to provide information that I requested."

On Aug. 8, Turner emailed New Albany City Controller Linda Moeller and City Attorney Shane Gibson asking for an itemized list of expenditures from Jan. 1, 2021 to present.

Turner sent a follow-up email two days later after not receiving a response, and on Aug. 19, he emailed a formal public records request to the city asking again for the same information.

According to the advisory opinion, Moeller submitted a letter to the public access counselor's office in response to Turner's formal complaint. She said the information requested by Turner consists of almost 2,000 pages, and it would be a time-consuming process to review all of information for potential redactions.

Moeller told the public access counselor's office that she sends monthly financial reports to Turner and other council members, in addition to more than 24,500 pages of documents and about 55 gigabytes of digital data of information Turner has requested.

The city controller also told the office that she "continues to address Turner's records requests as time allows given her other obligations pertaining to the 2023 Budget process and a pending audit by the State Board of Accounts," according to Britt.

In his opinion, Britt writes that Turner's "request is large, but that does not necessarily disqualify it from legitimacy" in regard to the councilman's recent public records request.

"The City — at least initially — decides whether a public records request (or portions of it) lack the specificity required by APRA," Britt said in his opinion. "Still, the City did not argue that Turner's request failed to meet APRA's 'reasonable particularity' standard."

"Therefore, accepting a request, even of significant magnitude, shifts the burden to the public agency for an efficient, reasonable response under APRA. This office has stated in the past that piecemeal disclosures of larger requests are preferable compared to waiting for the entirety of the responsive records to become available."

Britt described Turner's request for two year's worth of expenditures as "unreasonably unspecific," and he also said it is "highly unusual" for a council member to submit a request of this nature to the city.

However, Turner's request should have been acknowledged by the City of New Albany, he said. According to state law, a remotely-submitted public records request should be acknowledged within seven days upon receipt.

"That can be a denial or a call for more specificity, but the burden does shift to the agency for some kind of reply in order to satisfy the requirements of the law," Britt said in his opinion."

In an emailed letter to the News and Tribune, Moeller said the city agrees with Britt's description of Turner's request as "unreasonably unspecific" and "highly unusual."

Turner said he asked for specific expenditures from the city to become more informed as the council prepares to adopt a new budget. As of Thursday at noon, he still had not received either the information he requested or an acknowledgement of his request, he said.

"I've done seven public records requests because they refuse to give me data over time, and this is the first time I've had to actually file a complaint, and it's nice to see that the State of Indiana has seen that they have violated [APRA]" he said.

Turner said the next steps could involve potential litigation, and he is "open to pursuing all options on the table."

"I would be open to filing anything to get the information that I need," he said. "Time and time again, the city just refuses to be transparent, they refuse to do anything in good faith."

Moeller said the city will continue to process Turner's request.

"It is worth noting that Mr. Turner receives up-to-date financial reports and other documents, just like all other city councilpersons," she said. "We will continue to provide prompt responses to all inquiries within a reasonable time as required by Indiana state code."