Sunshine Troublemaker of the Week

The Lucy Burns Institute instituted the Sunshine Troublemaker of the Week (STOTW) Award in July 2007. This prestigious award goes to people who come under attack for filing open records requests.

This week’s STOTW Award winner is Kathy Barnes, a resident of Albertville, Alabama. Kathy had the audacity to request several records from Marshall County officials, including copies of citations issued by the county under its junk ordinance.

The Open Records blog has the story:

Havoc and panic set in upon the county receiving the request. The county issued a letter to Ms. Barnes saying her reason for asking was “insufficient” although under Alabama’s open records law, a request can only be denied if the motive is deemed to be “purely speculative or from idle curiosity.”

Most likely, when Ms. Barnes asked for information about payroll records for junk ordinance enforcement officers and “bid information for commissioner vehicles”–that’s the vehicles owned by the county and used by the county commissioners who denied the request–she was stepping way, way over that line.

County administrator Nancy Wilson defended their response to Barnes, saying, “We are going to get Ms. Barnes what she wants, but we have to also be aware that there are some things that are not for public access. In order to protect the rights of the rest of the public, we have to be sure it’s OK.”

Copies of junk ordinances? Citations written? Bids on vehicles owned by the county?

Citizens of Marshall County, unite.

Congratulations, Kathy Barnes- you are our weekly open records hero.

To see the 23 previous STOTW winners, go here, and to nominate someone for the award, please go here.