Gainesville offers new portal to public records

Gainesville residents who, along with other Floridians, have long enjoyed one of the nation’s strongest state public records laws, now have a new tool to leverage that advantage for municipal information.

Within the past month, the city has launched a portal on its website to allow people to request public records, track the progress of their requests and research other requests. Soon it also will be able to process for payments if those requests involve a fee.

Marie Kessler, deputy city clerk, and Shaneka Young, records coordinator, explained the features of the web-based service during a presentation Wednesday evening as part of a freedom of information workshop organized by The Gainesville Sun and co-sponsored by the city of Gainesville and the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida.

Frank LoMonte, director of the Brechner Center, outlined the state open records law. Miranda Spivack, a veteran journalist now working with the center, provided some examples of the power of public information. Meanwhile, Jorge Campos, Reggie Wilson and Veronica Rochelle — from the Gainesville Police Department — spoke about the particular requirements for crime and accident reports during the session at the Levin School of Law at UF.

“Florida is renowned around the country. Florida law is uniquely strong in some noteworthy ways,” LoMonte said. “One of the things that makes us special is that the right to access government documents is ensconced within the state constitution. It is very hard for legislation to override the public’s right to know.”

Nathan Crabbe, editor for opinion and engagement at The Sun, moderated the workshop. He said, through his previous work as a reporter, “I understand the frustrations of getting public records.”

But he said he also sees the challenge facing government records custodians, who must try to fulfill requests that often aren’t clear or well crafted. Part of the workshop’s goal was to offer tips on making effective requests.

Public records have become a hot topic for city commissioners as they debate how accessible some records — such as their own email exchanges — should be to the public, and how to regulate public comments during meetings.

The city’s new portal — at bit.ly/gainesvillerecordsportal — makes it much easier to place routine requests. But Kessler emphasized that it doesn’t replace more traditional ways to seek records, such as writing letters, through phone calls or simply by asking a city official.

The software, recently licensed by the city, also will track how much staff time is being devoted to fulfilling records requests. She said, until now, the city hasn’t even been able to tally up how many requests it receives.

Rochelle offered guidelines on making requests to help assure they provide the right information. A good public records request, she said:

• Is specific about what information is sought;

• Includes keywords if a search is required of, for example, email records;

• Is as narrowly tailored as possible to avoid unnecessary information and potential cost.

Campos, GPD spokesman, said the department is working to increase the use of body cameras worn by officers, which he said have generally been a benefit to police.

“Police departments are finding more and more, as they are starting to implement these, our complaints are going down,” Campos said. “People can see what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.”

“The devices themselves are not all that expensive. It is the storage of this video,” Campos said. “All of this data gets very expensive very fast.”

While police camera video is generally considered a public record, it often requires editing to remove identifying features of victims, dead bodies, or other protected content.

So fulfilling those records requests can be slow process, Campos said.