Behind the Headlines

Now comes the startling conclusion to - the Sunshine week audit. (I was going to try to do an old school Batman like wrap-up, with appropriate puns and everything, but couldn’t really come up with anything. It’s Tuesday.)

Lastly I was leaving the EMD empty handed, without having a chance to speak face to face with Mitch Yudasz. I was told the plan was off limits to the public because of safety concerns, but Mitch would get back with me later to let me know officially what was available. Glenda told me that the Tier II reports were open documents - the ones that catalogue where hazardous chemicals are stored and used and schematics for the places they’re stored in. As another side note - I did ask to see the plan and flip through or to just get a copy of the executive summary to no avail.

I sent an email request to Vickie Koczman asking for the CERP, which was forwarded to the county attorney. I got an initial letter from the attorneys asking for an extension, to give more time to turn up the information.

In the meantime, I talked with several county people who said they all had a copy of the plan. When I stopped into Charlie Londo’s office one afternoon, just to see what was going on at the county, he pulled out a disc and said - oh, you mean this plan?

Here’s what gets me. I probably could have gotten a copy of the plan had I gone about it in a different way. I have sources, I could have asked others or finagled it in some way or another, but following the audit and acting as a regular resident I wanted to see what the ultimate results were. The law that said CERPs have to be created also clearly said the plan was to be made public. But, as lawyer for the Michigan Press Association, Dawn Hertz said - following 9-11, a lot of rules and laws were passed which weren’t necessarily thought through all the way. One of which was the Section 13 exemption of the FOIA, which provides that, if spreading information would cause more public harm that it would good, a request for the information can be turned down. However, how does one judge that?

Two days later I had not heard from Mitch, so I called him to follow up. He said he had spoken with the Michigan State Police - the stewards of Homeland Security in Michigan, and that they said the plan was exempt from public viewing. He said following 9-1-1 the plans had been pulled due to security reasons.

A letter from the county attorney arrived about one week after the initial one, denying the request for the CERP and approving the request for Tier II reports - the stored chemical reports. They cited section 13 of the FOIA exemptions, claiming: “It is sincerely believed that disclosure of the Comprehensive Emergency Response Plan for Monroe County would expose strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities and put certain areas at risk. Accordingly, the County of Monroe must deny your Freedom of Information Act request…”

When I tried to get ahold of Mitch at the end of last week and beginning of this week, he was out of the office. I wanted to ask, what type of information was included in 500 pages of a report that had to be protected. Was it really the entire report?

Prior to that, I contacted the county law firm and asked Mr. Goldsmith’s colleague, who I was told could answer my questions, why I couldn’t see the report with information redacted. He said the Tier II reports were available, depending on what I wanted and he wasn’t sure about the CERP but that I should talk to Mr. Goldsmith. However, based on the FOIA I submitted he said the information was exempt for the reason stated in the letter.

Since I’ve been working on this, I’ve found several instances where the plan is not only public, but public hearings have to be held in order to accept updates each year, like in certain counties in New York and Pennsylvania. As stated in the overall story that ran in yesterday’s paper - some officials were excited someone was asking for the plan, noting that the plans are one way to keep the public knowledgeable about their communities.

For those of you who would like to read the legalese - here’s the US code, in its entirety:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sec_42_00011001—-000-.html