Edgar Co. (ECWd) –
Over three years ago I filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor regarding the Clark-Edgar Rural Water District for violating the Freedom of Information Act.
June 19th, 2012 I asked for documents to be provided in electronic format. The water district claimed they did not have any of the records electronically. When I picked up the paper copies it was clear they charged me for records that were in electronic format.
It took 3 years and 4 days for the AG’s office to come to the conclusion that the district lied, as they did in fact have records in electronic form, and they inappropriately charged for the records received.
It is a sad day when a citizen has to wait over 3 years for a determination on a simple FOIA violation. Even before we obtained three years of knowledge of what is or is not a violation, this case was a clear violation.
The AG’s office has directed the Clark Edgar Rural Water District to pay $64.20 for records they had electronically and denied having.
How long will it take the water district to comply with the directive from the AG office to refund my money? Any bets that recovery of these funds will require court action in spite of the AG’s direction?
What is the ironic part of this, the water district has spent thousands on an attorney fighting this matter. Had they simply turned over the records in the format they had them, and refunded what they inappropriately charged me, the taxpayers would have been better off, but these people would rather fight transparency than do what is right.
[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/20613-f-6a-fee-improper-spd.pdf” save=”1″]
