The University’s Senate Transparency Committee members leveled a series of tenacious questions onto Public Records Officer Elizabeth Denecke Thursday and heard complaints from requesters incensed by the fees and delays they experienced while filing requests.
The committee, created by a May 2010 University Senate motion, is charged with reviewing the University’s public records access procedures, and acts as a forum for complaints stemming from records requesters. According to its charge, the committee demands “free and unfettered access” to public information with the goal of streamlining and improving the request process.
At the start of the session, Denecke explained that the turn-around time of requests has been lethargic because of an extensive backlog waiting for her when she began at the beginning of the school year.
“I’m still clearing requests from this summer,” Denecke said.
The public records office was moved out from under the Office of the General Counsel this year, and was afforded a $250,000 annual budget through the President’s Office to hire two full-time staff members, including Denecke. President Lariviere’s interest in expanding the office is a direct result of his broad push for greater institutional transparency, as well as the University’s past difficulties with maintaining employee contracts.
University biology graduate student Paul Cziko attended the meeting to express distaste about the delay of his time-sensitive Nov. 15 document request relating to the controversial Riverfront Research Park construction.
Cziko, a member of anti-riverfront development organization Connecting Eugene, requested the documents so they could be reviewed when administrators spoke about the park’s further development at the Dec. 1 University Senate meeting.
“The point was to request documents to provide information to the University Senate meeting,” Cziko said. “I want(ed) the community to have these documents as soon as possible.”
Denecke confirmed that Cziko’s request was received on Nov. 19, giving the office eight business days to prepare documents clearly stated as time-sensitive.
In his communication with Denecke, Cziko also asked for a fee waiver because the documents sought were a matter of public interest.
More than a week later, the Denecke informed Cziko his fee waiver had been denied and that he was expected to pay $200.34 for the labor involved with their production.
With the senate meeting two days away, Cziko paid the fee out of his own pocket, hoping to expedite the process and receive the documents in time. He eventually received a response from Denecke on Nov. 29 saying she would not be able to produce the documents in time for the upcoming meeting.
“I haven’t received the documents at this point, even though it (was) a time sensitive request,” Cziko said.
Transparency Committee Chair Bill Harbaugh, a University economics professor, said he was skeptical of the delay in the public records office’s response. He reminded the committee that Cziko was able to obtain the same documents through the city free of charge in only two days after he forfeited his request through the University.
“I’m curious why it was two weeks until the request was filed,” Harbaugh said.
Denecke blamed the delay on a lack of communication between her office and Cziko. She said she was unaware that Cziko had obtained some of the requested documents through other means, which would have significantly reduced the volume and increased the speed of his request.
“This (conversation) should not even be necessary if you would have communicated with me earlier,” Denecke told Cziko. “You have to tell me what it is you’ve gotten, and what it is you are seeking … (it’s) a fundamental problem of you needing to tell me.”
Toward the end of the meeting, Denecke said she was confident that the processing of future requests will be greatly expedited as her office hears more suggestions for improvement from the committee, while working through the past summer’s backlog.
