Last week the Brookhaven City Council unanimously passed a resolution stressing its support of transparency and open government. The council pointed out that the resolution does more than simply meet legal requirements. The resolution calls for erring on the side of producing records when there could be legal exceptions, and also provides for a list to be produced of withheld documents and the legal basis for withholding.
“Let there be no doubt that this is important to us as a city,” Mayor Rebecca Chase Williams said. “Diligence allows for critical public oversight, an important foundation of participatory democracy.”
The city’s resolution states that: Legal exceptions to production, such as for privacy and confidentiality, will be narrowly construed so as to protect the public’s interest in open records; instances in which documents are lawfully redacted, such redactions shall be plain, visible and obvious on the face of the document(s) produced; and instances in which documents are lawfully withheld from production, the city shall provide the requesting party with a list identifying the withheld documents and the legal basis upon which they are withheld.
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