My apologies for not delivering on a promise I made to update you on a couple of public document issues. I got sick. I was out for a while. I’m back now, not better than ever, but better than then.
The one document story was in reference to our request of public employee hometowns, which the county initially refused to provide. The county decided to not appeal a judge’s decision that the Kitsap Sun was right in its case against the county and his decision that the county should pay some of the attorney’s fees and a small fine.
Technically our critic “Samm” has it wrong, because we only asked for hometowns, not street addresses. You can argue whether he’s right on the broader point.
The other was the story about Bainbridge Island being inundated with public document requests from its residents. Tristan Baurick’s story does provide comparative data from other cities and it does appear Bainbridge residents are asking for more than their peers in other places.
The reason for the flood of requests is clear, Mayor Darlene Kordonowy said.
“We have lost trust from the community,” she said.
While islanders have built a reputation for strong involvement in local government, they’ve also earned a bit of infamy for an equally robust distrust for it.
Planned for this weekend is a story that involved public document requests by the Kitsap Sun. Our requests, however, were to support the broader context of the story. More as it develops.
