Government accountability group sues Manatee County claiming public records act violation
The Florida Center for Government Accountability filed a civil lawsuit over claims Manatee County violated Florida's public records act by not providing text messages sent or received by public officials.
The nonprofit organization filed the civil lawsuit in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court on Aug. 9, alleging that Manatee County failed to respond to requests for text messages sent to or by county Administrator Scott Hopes and two deputy administrators, Robert Reinshuttle and Charlie Bishop.
"I learned that the county does not archive and backup its messages," FCGA Director for Public Access Michael Barfield said. "The county is statutorily and legally required to archive and backup text messages just as they would any other record."
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"The whole purpose behind the requirement to archive text messages is to avoid the possibility that records could be accidentally, or intentionally, lost because someone loses their phone or inadvertently deleted a message," he said.
Manatee County has declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Court records show that the nonprofit first made a records request on May 24 regarding emails and text messages sent to or from Hopes between April 26 and May 24.
May 24 is the date former Deputy Administrator and CFO Jan Brewer suddenly resigned from Manatee County.
On May 31, the county provided a log of text message activity but did not provide a copy of the content of those messages.
In its response, the county told the nonprofit that there is no method to capture the content of text messages sent or received on county-issued cell phones.
Staff also cited communication with its cell phone provider, Verizon, that stated that the county would need to contact Verizon's legal team to attain copies of text message content.
The county then allowed the nonprofit to inspect text messages in person on June 23. On that day, Hopes displayed his county-issued cell phone on a large screen and allowed nonprofit representatives to take pictures.
Later that day, the organization made additional requests for all text messages sent to and from Reinshuttle, Bishop and Hopes this year, and filed its lawsuit after the county did not furnish those records within a reasonable timeframe.
"There is a very simple solution that other entities have done, for example, the city of Venice," Barfield said. "They automatically have their provider, which I believe is Verizon, backup every message sent or received on a city-issued phone."
"This isn't something new," he said. "There was an attorney general opinion from 2010 that busted the myth that it's really difficult to backup and archive text messages. It's not."
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Manatee County faces lawsuit claiming public records act violation
