City attorney JC Brown recently informed my lawyer that she would be DELIGHTED to serve up all the information I have requested (from emails written by CITY EMPLOYEES on the CITY’S taxpayer-funded email servers) just as soon as I pay $1,220 to the City.
How did they arrive at that ridiculous $1,220 figure? Why, they need to spend 56 hours (at $15 per hour) REDACTING ALL CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.
LOL
Who decides what’s confidential? They do, of course. What a great deal for me!
Lemme get this straight. I request a keyword search through the City’s email system (which is public domain, imho) and you tell me “sure buddy! But we’ll need $1,220 so we can black out all the information you want.”
Does she have rocks in her head??
I might direct the esteemed Ms Brown to the City of Lampasas Official Personnel Policy – which I have posted here for download…
Go take a gander at section 2.15 “Use of City computers, Internet access and ELECTRONIC MAIL“
It reads in part:
“..because all computer systems are City property, there is no expectation of privacy for an employee using these systems…”
Sounds pretty clear to me.
In fact, I used this EXACT SAME TACTIC in early 2019 to get my hands on the embarrassing truth about the Azbell Electronics grotesque $96,000 no-bid contract. There was some embarrassing stuff in there, including irrefutable evidence that Finley deGraffenreid was a bald-faced liar. But they STILL didn’t have the balls to try and redact it – because legally (imho), they cannot. You are literally WARNED as an employee NOT to expect privacy with your emails.
Now, the LEDC and City council pull their protective “Executive Session” all the time to discuss “economic incentives” and other secret stuff. OK fine – that is the law. It is like a magic cloak they invoke (yes, they have to declare it publicly) and can say anything they want behind closed doors in secret. There is not a damn thing I can do about that.
BUT, when you are discussing ANYTHING in writing on the City computer system during work hours (paid for and maintained by the taxpayers at great expense), you are now in the public domain, and thus fair game. Finley may feel like the Pope sitting up there giving orders all day, but at the end of the day, he is an employee and his absurd compensation package (salary and benefits over $200,000 per annum) is paid for by the citizens…as is the City email system and servers.
I suspect some of the newer or dumber employees [**cough** Ward ** cough**] didn’t get the message. They weren’t here in 2019 when I caught them all with their pants down. Looks like I may get them a second time. We shall see.