Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2003 11:37:54 -0500
Subject: JCEDC computer records
At this morning's Jefferson County Economic Development Consortium meeting, County Supervisor Yvonne Duesterhoeft said that she'd spoken to former JCEDC executive director Marilyn Haroldson and was told that the computers from the Jefferson County Economic Development Corporation had "been thrown out". This was news to me, and apparently it was news to members of the Consortium as well.
I have been seeking certain JCEDC records in electronic format since April 2001. Until this morning, I had never been given a definitive answer from anyone at the County as to the fate of these records,
beyond statements that the records could not be produced because the JCEDC refused to surrender them.
In early November 2002, I'd sent several letters to the JCEDC and County officials asking these records be preserved. (I repeated this request on January 9, 2003.) As stated in the agenda of the JCEDC's dissolution meeting on November 15, the fate of the JCEDC's assets, records and office equipment was discussed.
On November 20, just days after their dissolution but before these computers were removed from the JCEDC offices on County property, the Wisconsin Attorney General's office wrote an opinion stating
that I should have received these records.
As I see it, there was willful destruction of these records in order to avoid their surrender to the public. No one involved with this process was unaware of my requests, and of the necessity of surrendering the records in electronic format.
The JCEDC Board included members who were appointed by County municipalities as their representatives, and the County and these municipalities were the major funding sources of the JCEDC.
I am very disappointed by the lack of action or responsibility regarding the pursuit of these electronic records. I believe this is a clear violation of the letter and the spirit of Wisconsin's Open Records laws.
- John |
