The City of Jackson is in violation of state law.
On Feb. 26, the Jackson Free Press submitted a public-records request for documents related to the city's $91 million performance contract with Siemens Industry Inc. Under state law, agencies should provide requested materials within one working day after a written request for a public record is made, and the agencies must produce (or formally deny) records no later than seven working days later.
Mississippi's public-records law reads: "If a public body is unable to produce a public record by the seventh working day after the request is made, the public body must provide a written explanation to the person making the request stating that the record requested will be produced and specifying with particularity why the records cannot be produced within the seven-day period."
To date, the city—specifically the Jackson city clerk—has not fully responded to the JFP's request as the law requires. In all fairness, we understand that most of the city's documents are not stored in the clerk's office, which means assistant clerks have to goad minions in other departments to make the necessary photocopies. In short, the clerk, whom the city council supervises, can't compel a city department director, whom the mayor supervises, to obey the law anymore than the JFP can.
However, the city's failure to figure out that workflow isn't the public's problem.
The city must treat access to public records with the same seriousness as its compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act and the United States Environmental Protection Agency Consent Decree, or paying its debt service. That is, they should treat it as an absolute non-negotiable. Of course, we recognize there are financial and technological constraints on budget writers, and we are therefore glad to hear that the council is shopping around for a low-cost solution, even if it's a temporary fix.
As the JFP reported last week, the council recently had a presentation from Redwood City, Calif.-based OpenGov, which puts city financial data onto an interactive website.
Representatives from the company told the council that some 275 cities have purchased their service, including the city of Los Angeles, which has an annual budget of $28.5 billion. Based on Jackson's $400 million budget, OpenGov's representative estimated their service would cost $21,000 per year with no maintenance or service fees. Implementation would cost $3,000 and would take less than one month.
As good of a deal as that sounds like, it's our hope that the city council would solicit bids for the service to make sure that Jackson taxpayers are getting the most bang for their bucks.
We look forward to seeing more details about the proposal and urge city officials to give it careful consideration.
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