City Misses Deadline to Open Access to Email Records

City attorney Tom Trask to city emails in June.

He led city officials in a training session so access could be immediately restored Tuesday.

Officials missed a 30-day deadline, which expired on Monday, that they set for themselves to complete the public records training necessary for restoring the access to commissioners’ emails.

The training lasted one hour.

At Tuesday’s training session, all commissioners and supporting staff were refreshed on what, specifically, constitutes a public record. Julie Scales, who has a background in law and was the only commissioner to vote against the proposed public access process for city emails in , was not present.

In a letter later sent to Dunedin Patch, Scales wrote that she had a scheduling conflict.

"The meeting was scheduled on 48 hours notice," she wrote.

Trask said he would meet separately with her on Sept. 7.

Florida Sunshine Law explains that all incoming and outgoing emails are considered public records (Florida Statute 119.07). Although, law also states that certain information is exempt from public access (Florida Statute 119.071).

Most exempt information city officials would need to be concerned about receiving, Trask said, is related to criminal investigations, safety and security, legal cases, labor negotiations, also, personal identifying information of city employees, children, ridesharing and paratransit users, and those applying for government assistance.

Commissioners focused much of their discussion on liability issues of receiving sensitive information from staff or citizens that do not know their email is open to public access.

Commissioner Julie Ward Bujalski wanted to know if a legal disclosure would free them of liability — something she expressed at a the July 21 meeting.

“[Then] they know they’re doing it, they know that they’re sending it on a public email. To me that’s implying consent. … Are we preparing to get that disclosure on that email?” she asked Trask. “It’s not there.”

“We need to take care of that,” Mayor Dave Eggers said.

Important notes:

• City manager Rob DiSpirito’s emails will continue to be monitored for exempt information before it is released for public access. His email, commissioners said, is likely to contain much more exempt information than theirs. His emails will be printed, redacted and kept in a folder open to public access.
• City department heads will also take public records training. “Sounds like, then, that staff needs to know what to send us — or not to send us,” Eggers said. “Because ours is to remain open.”
• Commissioners will be outfitted with old fax machines so that exempt information may still be communicated securely.

Editor's note: This article was updated with additional information Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011 at 10:48 a.m.