THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS

OF RADNOR TOWNSHIP

Delaware County and Radnor Leagues Complete the Public Documents Audit

Thanks to a grant from the League of Women Voters Education Fund, two Pennsylvania Leagues participated in the national Citizen Initiative for Transparency: Public Documents Audit. LWV volunteers from Delaware County and Radnor filed Right to Know requests to Delaware County Government, the City of Chester and selected townships, boroughs and school districts in the area. Specific information was sought regarding the compensation package of their highest paid, non-elected officer and a monthly procurement (credit) card statement.

As a result of the study, a rating scale was developed to aid Pennsylvania agencies, individuals, and organizations in assessing and improving compliance

Among the recommendations from the audits are:

• Several individuals in each agency should be trained on an on-going basis to comply with requests in a timely manner.

• Right-to-Know officers, procedures, and forms should be posted on websites and request forms should be modified by agencies to be completed and sent on line.

• Periodic audits of compliance and of the appeals process, through the Office of Open Records, should be conducted. Charter schools and government authorities should also be included in this process.

• Consideration should be given to amending Act 3 of 2008 of the new PA Right to Know law, so that agencies that deny a request must notify the requester within given timelines. Reason(s)     for denial should also be included.

To find out more about Open Records Laws, go to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records at openrecoreds@state.pa.us, the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition at www.pafoic.org and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association  at www.pa-newspaper.org. A copy of the Right to Know Audit Rating Scale and full reports can be obtained by contacting LWV PA Board members Lora Lavin (lavin@steuber.com) or Roberta Winters (rlwinters@comcast.net).