The Ron Littlefield Administration is known for routinely failing to comply with Open Records Requests filed by citizen activists, but the obstruction to information does not end at the grassroots. It turns out that Chattanooga City Council representatives are being routinely denied the information they need to make informed decisions when casting votes that will have a direct affect on the lives of tens-of-thousands of people.
All of this came out today when the normally soft spoken, but always razor sharp, District One Representative Deborah Scott unleashed nothing short of an inspired cry for open government during today's Chattanooga City Council Agenda Committee. Turns out she had been requesting information from the Mayor's office for over three years about our city's sewer system and multi-million dollar contracts with waste management companies. Her requests have been forwarded by city administrators up the chain to Ron Littlefield, ostensibly under direct order by him to do so, where they were met with silence and in at least one instance, by the Mayor hanging up the phone on her.
"If I can't get answers to questions by phone, in public meetings, or by email then somthing is wrong". - Deborah Scott
Apparently Mayor Ron Littlefield has had enough of Council Rep. Scott's questions. This morning he blasted out a condescending email demanding that all future questions and information requests related to the budget be sent to his office directly for approval. The email was sent to the entire City Council and what appears to be most of the upper echelons of his appointed administration: his Chief of Staff Dan Johnson, the Mayor's mouthpiece Richard Beeland, his Secretary Marie Chinery, Anita Ebersol, another Richard Beeland email (how many accounts is Beeland using?) and Lea Matt.
Scott promised that she would file a Freedom of Information Act request for every question she had if necessary.
Legal & Legislative Chair & District 9 Representative Murphy agreed to host the question of how to "properly" obtain information that is not forthcoming from the Littlefield Administration in the Legal & Legislative Committee, but no specific date was mentioned.
I caught up with Rep. Scott after the City Council meeting and interviewed her about the email and the questions she was asking leading up to it, this video is WELL worth taking the time to watch:
9:30 PM 4.24.2012 This blog post was significantly revised from its original version published at 6:00 PM on 4.24.2012
9:00 AM 4.24.2012 UPDATE:
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported on the story this morning, saying:
9:00 AM 4.24.2012 UPDATE:
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported on the story this morning, saying:
The mayor was unavailable for comment Tuesday. Richard Beeland, his spokesman, said the only thing different would be the process. He said some council members request information directly from the department heads, and it puts them in uncomfortable situations because they report to the mayor.It seems pretty obvious to me that city administrators are not being "made uncomfortable" because they are being asked questions by City Council Representatives who are intent on doing their job and getting the information they need to make an informed vote, but because the information they have is being bottle-necked by the administration who has everyone under their thumb.