Credit line: From the Twin Falls Times-News
Idaho law protects your right to monitor the actions of state and local governments by providing access to public records. The Times-News tested that access by dispatching a team of reporters to ask for public records relevant to our readers’ lives — among them, police video, building permits, 911 call audio and food safety inspection results. The responses were sometimes swift and professional, sometimes convoluted. Inside today, the team’s stories reveal how each request unfolded — and suggest what you might learn through records requests of your own.
“Open government is the cornerstone of a free society.”
That’s the opening statement of Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden’s manual explaining the state’s 1990 public records law. In short, the law protects citizens’ right to monitor the actions of state and local governments by providing access to government records.
And thanks to a change by the 2011 Legislature, you can get the first 100 pages of your public records request for free.
The Times-News tested that access last month by dispatching a team of reporters to ask for public records relevant to our readers’ lives — building permits, police video, food safety inspection results, standardized test scores — from agencies chosen arbitrarily.
Using personal email addresses and not identifying themselves as journalists, the reporters all used similar letters citing the applicable sections of Idaho code. And they all sent off their requests between 8 and 10 a.m. on a Wednesday.
Then they watched the response — sometimes swift and professional, sometimes a little convoluted.
Reporter Julie Wootton had test scores from Hansen School District in hand within 2 1/2 hours. Jerome County took longer than two weeks to supply the commissioner emails reporter Tetona Dunlap requested.
Most agencies didn’t require the request to be refiled on their own forms. A few recognized the reporters’ names and contacted them at work. And none charged for the records they eventually supplied.
Inside today, the team’s stories reveal how each request unfolded — and suggest what you might learn through records requests of your own.
Request: Teacher Contracts
What we asked for: All 2015-16 Valley Elementary School teacher contracts.
Who we asked: Valley School District, based in Hazelton.
What happened next: I received a response with the teacher contracts about 24 hours after emailing the request to clerk Lorrie Meek.
What we got: A 14-page PDF included every individual teacher contract.
What you could learn: Each contract includes the employee’s name, how many days he or she works per year and how much she’s paid. Pay ranges from $33,200 to $45,305 annually.
There’s one exception: A teacher contracted to work only 80 days — from January through August — will be paid $16,350.
You can find out how much other Magic Valley teachers are paid. And sometimes, it’s easily accessible online without filing a public records request.
But most Idaho school districts and charter schools aren’t meeting state transparency requirements. As of October, only 14 had all of the required financial and teacher contract information posted online, Idaho Education News reported.
Since then, more districts have jumped on board and posted teacher contracts online. But I couldn’t find that information on the Valley School District’s website.
Request: Deputy’s Body Camera Video
What we asked for: A copy of footage from a police body-worn camera during the interview of a man suspected of robbing a Burley pharmacy.
The exact request: “… access to and a copy of video from the body-worn camera of the deputy identified as ‘365/MBA’ (possibly Deputy Matt Arthur) during the questioning of robbery suspect Chandler Lee Palmer on Nov. 30, 2014.”
Who we asked: Cassia County Sheriff’s Office. No email addresses for the sheriff’s office are listed on the county website, so this request was faxed.
What happened next: Just five hours after the request was faxed, an employee of the sheriff’s office responded to the email address included in the request to ask how I would like to get the video.
“I am burning the ‘body-worn camera video’ you have requested at this time, will you be coming in to pick up this disc or do you need it mailed to you?” she wrote. “If you prefer to have it mailed please provide me with a valid mailing address for you.”
I provided a mailing address Feb. 4, and the sheriff’s office employee sent the video Feb. 5 from Cassia County. It arrived at my Twin Falls apartment Feb. 8.
What we got: Inside the manila envelope with bubble-wrap padding was a DVD in a white square envelope. There was also a photocopy of the form request I sent with a handwritten note at the bottom:
“This is the only body camera video I have for this case. Mailed back on 02-05-2016.”
No payment was requested for the DVD or the postage to send it.
What you could learn: In the video, which is just over two minutes long, Arthur is beginning an interview with Palmer, who seems relaxed for being under arrest. Palmer is wearing a Penn State University sweat shirt, blue jeans and tan shoes.
Arthur stands in the doorway of an interview room while Palmer sits in a chair against a wall. The conversation between the two men is easy and relaxed as Palmer looks at a stack of paperwork. Later in the video, Arthur sits down at the table with Palmer and reads the paperwork, which spells out Palmer’s Miranda rights.
As Palmer begins to spell his name for the deputy, the video cuts out.
Request: Building Inspections
What we asked for: Building inspections for Mountain America Credit Union at 1061 Blue Lakes Blvd. N. in Twin Falls.
Who we asked: Joshua Palmer, city spokesman.
What happened next: I sent the email to Palmer on Feb. 3, and he forwarded the request to Wendy Thompson, administrative assistant for the Twin Falls Building Department. The next day she emailed two PDF files. One was all the permits pertaining to Mountain America Credit Union, and the other contained five pages of emails regarding the project and an ADA-compliant sidewalk. The emails were between Mitchel Humble, deputy city manager; Ben Christensen, the bank’s project manager; and Troy Vitek, assistant city engineer.
Thompson wrote in her email: “If you would like information regarding the individual inspections done on each of these permits or if you would like information for the property prior to this project let me know.”
What we got: One PDF Thompson sent contained 56 pages of documents including the building permit application, a wastewater questionnaire, sewer capacity worksheet and change of contractor notice, among many others.
What you could learn: The documents are rich with specific details about the business and its construction, such as how many employees will work at the bank, the fees the company had to pay to build and open the bank, details on specific construction materials and schematics of structural and mechanical systems.
Request: 911 Call Audio
What we asked for: An audio copy of a 911 call from a 2013 crash that killed a 58-year-old man driving a tractor on U.S. 30 near Hansen.
Our request was detailed: “… a copy of a tape of the 911 call made by Rick Webb about 7:30 a.m. Oct. 2, 2013, in regards to a fatal crash on eastbound U.S. Highway 30 that killed Salvador Centeno-Hernandez.”
Who we asked: Southern Idaho Regional Communications, which handles emergency dispatching for Twin Falls County. Because the agency didn’t list a general contact email, the request was sent to Director John Moore and Deputy Director Kristy Churchman, whose names, titles and email addresses were found on SIRCOMM’s website under the “Contact Us” page.
What happened next: Moore responded just 25 minutes after he received the request. The body of the email was simple and short: “Please see attached response. Regards, John Moore.”
The attachment, sent in PDF format, was a form letter with several options for the agency to choose.
The fourth option was marked with an X and read like this: “Your request has been reviewed and cannot be approved because the records you seek are not obtainable in the format requested or are the records of another agency. Contact the appropriate agency directly.”
The request was denied.
Under that sentence, though, there was an explanation: “Specifically: Per SIRCOMM records retention policy audio recordings are only kept for a period of one year from date of incident.”
So in simple terms, a copy of the requested 911 call was denied because SIRCOMM keeps recordings for only one year.
Another box was marked with an X on the letter, this one to say that SIRCOMM’s attorney had reviewed both the request and the response. The letter was signed by Moore.
Other options in the form-letter response were for requests that were approved, requests that SIRCOMM would need more time to answer and requests that were denied on a legal basis.
What we got: Nothing.
What you could learn: SIRCOMM’s quick, efficient response indicates the agency is accustomed and well prepared to receive and handle public record requests.
It seems SIRCOMM should be able to quickly supply the audio version of a 911 call if the request is within a year of the incident, although it’s unclear how pending litigation or other circumstances might affect the agency’s willingness or ability to provide it.
Request: Lawmakers’ Emails
What we asked for: Correspondence sent and received by the House and Senate Health and Welfare Committee chairmen between Oct. 1, 2015, and Feb. 3, regarding either Medicaid expansion or the Primary Care Access Program.
Who we asked: Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley, and Sen. Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, chairmen of the House and Senate committees, respectively.
What happened next: Both lawmakers referred my Feb. 3 request to the Legislative Services Office. LSO sent the records, by mail, to my apartment in Boise. (Next time, I should specify I work in the building.) I stopped at LSO on Feb. 11 and was told they had been sent. I received them Feb. 15.
What we got: Two manila envelopes full of printouts of emails.
What you could learn: Heider, whose committee held a hearing on Medicaid expansion Feb. 2, had received by far the most correspondence on the subject — including 16 emails just on Feb. 2. Of them, 14 were from expansion supporters, one opposed Medicaid expansion and one opposed PCAP. The Medicaid expansion and PCAP opponents were both doctors. Out of the 14 supporters, two identified themselves as nurses and two as working at community health clinics.
Heider’s correspondence also included the briefing materials provided by the governor’s office in advance of the January press conference at which Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, Health and Welfare Director Dick Armstrong and the two committee chairmen rolled out the details of the PCAP proposal.
Wood’s emails were mostly from the same person, a Medicaid expansion supporter who sends the entire House and Senate — and most of the state-level officials and press corps in Idaho — copied-and-pasted news articles prefaced with his own commentary on the topic.
Request: Building Permit Application
What we asked for: The most recent building permit and permit application for a business setting up at 129 W. Main St. in Burley.
I’d heard rumors a few times since last year about the type of business that could be moving there.
Who we asked: Gary Pawson, Burley’s chief building official.
What happened next: I didn’t get a response from Pawson that day, Feb. 3, so I called his office the next day and left a message. His secretary, Melissa Lee, called back and told me Pawson was in Las Vegas for the rest of the week. She said she’d be able to help me instead.
When I told Lee what I was looking for, she said I could find the application on the department’s website but if I had any trouble she’d find it, scan it and send it to me. On the website I found a list of links to PDFs for permit applications — but not the one filled out by this business.
I gave Lee a call to explain more clearly what I was looking for, and she told me she’d be able to find the permit application and email it the following Monday. Monday came and there wasn’t anything in my email. It turns out she wrote my email address wrong when we spoke, but after she took my address down again, the filled-out application in a PDF file was in my inbox. In all, it took five business days to get the record.
What we got: A two-page PDF file containing the application but not a permit.
What you could learn: The application was submitted to the city May 5 and cost nearly $1,700. It did not say what kind of business is moving in. The application just described the nature of the work: a building remodeling to the tune of $225,000. The owners are listed as Bret and Ty Taylor, and the contractor is J&L Electric, with contact information listed for both.
Request: County Audit
What we asked for: A copy of the most recent audit on Minidoka County prepared by Gerald Price & Associates.
Who we asked: Patty Temple, county clerk.
What happened next: Temple replied to my email later that day, Feb. 3, to tell me she was in a conference in Boise through the week but that once she received a copy of the audit, she’d be able to send it to me. She didn’t say when she’d have a copy ready.
There was nothing in my email that week. On the following Tuesday, I gave Temple a call and left a message asking if she had the record ready to send.
Not long after, I had the county audit in my inbox. The total time it took to get the record: five business days.
What we got: A 79-page PDF file.
What you could learn: The audit contains a list of county taxes for the fiscal year 2015, fund balances, budgeted use of funds for fiscal 2016, county assets, revenues and the county’s insurance coverage.
On one page is a comparison of expenditures in 2014 and 2015; some of the focus areas are weeds, parks and recreation, sheriff, zoning and building and hospital spending.
The standouts are an increase of more than $371,000 in “general items” and a decrease of more than $52,000 in “jr college.” I’m going to dig into the latter more for another story.
Auditors made some conclusions made as they looked to the fiscal 2016 budget: Property values haven’t been adversely affected by the economic downturn. A 3 percent limit for property tax dollar increases barely offsets a decrease in other revenues in case major repairs are needed. And the next budget will be impacted by state sales tax revenue and continued reduction in the county’s investments.
Request: Info on Licensed Dogs
What we asked for: A list of all the Burley residents who purchased city licenses for their dogs from Jan. 1, 2015, through Jan. 1, as well as the given names and breeds of all the dogs licensed in the city.
Who we asked: The city of Burley.
What happened next: Within seven hours, City Clerk Ellen Maier responded with a phone call. She said the city could immediately comply with a printout of all the names and addresses of dog owners. But the information on dog names and breeds is included in registration forms filled out by dog owners and put into a binder. There are about 1,400 registrations, and Maier provided a cost of $44.30 to copy them, which took into account the 100 free copies the city is required to supply. I revised my request, asking for a subset: the 10 most recent registration forms.
What we got: The list of dog owners was sent via email overnight, and I picked up the copies of registration forms at City Hall at 9:30 a.m. the day following my request.
What you could learn: The spreadsheet’s alphabetical listing of dog owners includes their addresses, how many dogs they own and the dogs’ license numbers.
Each animal license application includes the owner’s name, address and phone number, and the dog’s breed, color, sex and name. Among the 29 applications I received, four were for replacement tags. Three of the 29 dogs were named Max, eight were Chihuahuas and 18 were male.
Request: Farm Subsidy
What we asked for: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2008 Disaster Program payment for Big Sky Dairy, 30 E. 200 S., Gooding.
I knew the dairy had received a payment that year because it showed up on the nonprofit Environmental Working Group’s website. EWG is a content provider for public interest groups.
Before making my request, I researched various USDA contacts and called Kent Willett at Oregon’s Farm Service Agency FOIA service center to explain what I was doing and to ask his advice for requesting the info from the Idaho service center, which he gave freely.
Willett also said federal FOIA laws are different than state FOIA laws, and because of privacy issues, only certain information is available to the public.
Who we asked: I emailed my request to Jeremy Nalder, an agriculture program specialist in Idaho’s Farm Service Agency FOIA service center.
What happened next: Nalder replied by email two business days later with FSA-standardized answers. In the first paragraph, the FSA acknowledged receiving the request and assigned it a control number. In the next, the FSA said it processes requests in a “first-in, first-out” basis and said it has 20 working days to respond.
In the third paragraph, the FSA said the records I was looking for are available to the public on the FSA website. Nalder gave a link to the web address where I could download the names, addresses and payment information.
What we got: From there, I downloaded two spreadsheet files. The first listed every subsidy recipient in the U.S. that had received a payment in 2008 — 6,750 were in Idaho alone — and the other had dollar amounts of each payment in the U.S. Narrowing the search was easy, but I wasn’t confident I had found all the payments. The total payments I found for Big Sky Dairy were not as large as the $282,693 total EWG posted on its website.
The rest of the information, except for the dollar amounts, was coded, and one type of payment was not readily distinguishable from another — although Nalder gave me a link to an explanation of the codes. In all, 1,212 codes are listed, which include the categories of dairy deficiency, dairy indemnity, milk diversion and dairy termination, for example. Other categories include American Indian livestock feed, clean lakes, rice diversion, loan deficiency and market gains.
What you could learn: The USDA’s information is cumbersome. The EWG website is user-friendly, easier to navigate than the USDA’s and made me feel confident I hadn’t missed something.
But no matter where you go for the information, you can’t know the details or circumstances surrounding a particular farm’s subsidy payment. For example, you can find out how big a disaster payment a certain farmer received, but you can’t find out whether the payment was for crop damage due to pests, drought or another disaster.
Request: Officials’ Emails
What we asked for: Emails from April 21, 2015, to May 28, 2015, to and from Jerome County Commission Chairman Charles Howell, Vice Chairman Cathy Roemer and Commissioner Roger Morley regarding a Jerome rendering plant or a plant to process dead stock.
Who we asked: I emailed the records request to Howell on Feb. 3, using his email address listed on the county website.
What happened next: After receiving an auto-response message — “I am out of the office until Nov 7th Thankyou for the info—-Charlie” — I also sent the same request to Roemer and Morley, using their email addresses listed on the county website.
For each of the three, I had to verify I was the one who sent the email. For each, I received a message like this one: “Thank you for verifying your email address. As a trusted sender, your future messages will go directly to Charlie Howell’s inbox. Sendio’s Opt-Inbox technology ensures users receive only the email they want.”
Besides the automatic emails that verified I was not a spammer, I received no correspondence. And on the Jerome County website I found no general county email address to send my request to.
On Feb. 19, I resent my requests. Within the hour, I received a phone call from Roemer. She said I should have been contacted by the county’s lawyer already. She wanted to know if I had received the information I requested; I told her I had not.
What we got: That day, I received a PDF containing 25 pages of emails. The first couple of pages were the original email I sent Feb. 3, and messages between the commissioners letting the others know that they needed to comb through emails sent or received dealing with a rendering plant or a plant to process dead stock.
What you could learn: One email is a 14-page article on beekeepers in the West and the effect of pesticides on hives, sent to Morley from Lee Halper, a Jerome resident. Halper also sent Morley a 2015 New York Times story titled “U.S. Details New Efforts to Support Ailing Bees.”
The last page is another email from Halper with Idaho’s code for domestic exemption from needing a water right. Domestic purposes are defined as water for homes or public campgrounds that do not exceed 13,000 gallons per day.
Request: Food Inspections
What we asked for: Copies of the food health inspection reports for Burley businesses from Dec. 1, 2015, to Jan. 15.
Who we asked: South Central Public Health District.
What happened next: The agency’s public information officer sent an email within four hours of my Feb. 3 request, saying the request had been turned over to Josh Jensen, the district’s public health program manager.
Jensen called 24 hours after the original request was filed and asked for clarification on what types of businesses to include in the report. I pared down the request to include only restaurants.
Jensen said the request would need to be refiled on the health district’s public records request form, and he asked for what purpose the records would be used. He also suggested that I look online and see if the information I was requesting was there.
I filled out the health district’s request form immediately. The requested records were received at 5:35 p.m. Feb. 9.
What we got: The health district sent an electronic file containing eight food establishment inspection reports and three food establishment inspection forms.
What you could learn: In the three forms, one business did not have any critical violations; another, McDonald’s, did not have any critical violations but was told to make sure water was not leaking onto the ice machine. A Dec. 2 inspection at Taco Bell in North Burley revealed that the facility’s sinks were not in proper working order and employees were not washing their hands consistently, an inspector reported; the restaurant was also not keeping food storage off the floor.
The eight reports list the number of risk factor violations and retail practice violations along with the number of repeat violations for each. Only one business, Taco Bell in North Burley, showed any violations in these reports, for a Dec. 16 inspection. The business again received a critical violation for employees not washing their hands and exposed portions of their arms. The business did not have a hand-washing lavatory equipped to provide water at the appropriate temperature, and food storage was not being kept 6 feet from the floor, an inspector reported.
Request: Governor’s Emails
What we asked for: Correspondence sent and received between Oct. 1, 2015, and Feb. 3 discussing either Medicaid expansion or the Primary Care Access Program.
Who we asked: Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s office, on Feb. 3.
What happened next: Otter’s office asked for the 10-day extension allowed under law. I received the correspondence Feb. 17.
What we got: Three PDF files worth of emails, the shortest being 45 pages and the longest being 163.
What you could learn: The 163-page file mostly consisted of drafts and discussion of the PCAP proposal, revealing some of the discussion of PCAP funding options and interactions between the governor’s office, the Department of Health and Welfare and the Community Health Center Network of Idaho in putting the plan together, preparing for its public rollout and asking questions about it.
Then, there was a 112-page file of constituent emails, most of them asking the governor to back Medicaid expansion or the hybrid “Healthy Idaho” plan. Some of them were from people telling their stories about struggling with health problems in the “Medicaid gap” and asking for help. A number of them referenced the story of Jenny Steinke, an Idaho Falls woman who fell in the gap and died in 2015 after suffering a severe asthma attack. A few of them were angry — one man wrote that the governor and the GOP leadership were “no better than ISIS” for refusing to expand Medicaid.
“I fought for this nation and the State of Idaho, now I have to question did I do the right thing,” he wrote.
There were also a few emails from Sen. Steve Thayn, R-Emmett, replying to constituents who support Medicaid expansion. Thayne opposes expansion, saying it would drive up health care costs for everyone else and impact health care providers negatively by, he wrote in one email, underpaying them and encouraging them to turn patients away. Thayn said he favors focusing on primary care and on measures to reduce health care costs, saying Idaho should follow the lead of places like Singapore and Japan.
The third file, 45 pages long, was again mostly discussion of PCAP and fact sheets and other documents that were prepared while getting ready to release the details of the program to the public.
Request: Student Test Scores
What we asked for: Eighth-grade math test scores (excluding student names) from the Smarter Balanced Assessment, administered in spring 2015.
Who we asked: Hansen School District.
What happened next: I received a response about two hours after submitting the public records request to Elayne Howell, business manager and board clerk. But it wasn’t from her.
I used my personal email address to send the request, but Superintendent Kristin Beck recognized my name and sent a clarification question to my work email later that morning. She asked how I’d like to receive the information and whether email was OK.
Beck also asked whether providing each student’s gender, race, scale score and achievement level would satisfy the request. I replied saying it would, and I received the records about 20 minutes later. The entire process concluded within 2 1/2 hours.
What we got: The information came in an Excel spreadsheet with columns for gender, race/ethnicity, grade, school, mathematics scale score and mathematics achievement level. The document also includes an explanation of the achievement levels — which scores fall into which levels.
What you could learn: Of the 30 eighth-graders in Hansen last year, only nine met or exceeded standards in math. That’s 30 percent — below the state average of 37 percent.
Top performers include boys and girls, as well as white and Hispanic/Latino students.
Eight students received a “1” — the lowest possible ranking.
Request: Farm Service Agency Minutes
What we asked for: The Farm Service Agency’s Cassia County Committee regular and executive meeting minutes during April and May 2015.
A county committee, or COC, is a three- to five-person board that reviews county office operations and makes program decisions. Board members are elected by other eligible farmers.
Who we asked: I emailed Cary Curtis, Cassia County executive director of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency in Burley.
What happened next: Curtis replied by email three business days later with standardized answers. In the first paragraph, the FSA acknowledged receiving the request and assigned it a control number. In the next, the FSA said it processes requests on a “first-in, first-out” basis.
His reply went on: “FSA as a Federal Government Agency must adhere to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552. Accordingly, FSA has 20 working days to respond to a FOIA request. State Public Records Acts do not apply to requests made to FSA. USDA FOIA regulations can be found in 7 CFR Part 1 Subpart A and FSA specific FOIA regulations can be found in 7 CFR Part 798.”
What we got: Curtis attached two documents — a total of 23 pages — including the minutes of the May 2015 regular and executive meetings. No meetings were held in April 2015.
“With respect to these pages, we are releasing 5 pages in full and releasing 18 pages in-part. We are withholding some of the information on the 18 pages in-part pursuant to Exemption 6 of [5 U.S.C. 552 (b)(6)]” he wrote, explaining why the names of individuals discussed at the executive meeting had been blacked out with a marker.
A lengthy clarification followed, saying the agency “is required to perform a ‘balancing test,’ weighing the individual’s right to privacy against the public’s right to disclosure.”
What you could learn: The COC regular meeting minutes detail when and where the meeting was held, who attended and the subjects of discussion. Only subjects open to the public are discussed in the regular meeting, such as ongoing drought conditions and how the conditions might affect crops and pastures in the county.
The minutes also show when the committee adjourned the regular session and went into executive session without explanation. Afterward, the committee reconvened into regular session.
The minutes of the executive session also detail when and where the meeting was held, who attended and the subjects of discussion — mainly farm programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program, Margin Protection Program and Emergency Conservation Program. The minutes then list the individual contracts that were discussed, but individual names are redacted for privacy.
According to Kent Willett at Oregon’s Farm Service Agency FOIA service center, the USDA can release either the name of the individual and the amount of money received or the details of that person’s project, but not both. Willett advised calling the FSA first before requesting information to discuss which information is appropriate.
Credit line: From the Twin Falls Times-News