A handful of Atlanta City Councilmembers lambasted Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration on Wednesday for what they say is a lack of transparency and responsiveness to their requests for public information.
The issue erupted during a finance executive committee meeting when District 9 Councilwoman Felicia Moore, a regular adversary of Reed’s administration, took Chief Operating Officer Michael Geisler to task for refusing repeated requests to give her computer access to the city’s human resources and finance records.
Even after Moore narrowed her request to only have access to the city’s accounts payable system — records of payments to employees or vendors — the administration cited security concerns in denying her.
“If you’re telling me that as (an elected official) I cannot have access to see one thing, and that is what money is going out of the city, then we have a problem,” Moore said.
Long-time District 7 Councilman Howard Shook also said he’s frustrated with attempts to get answers from the mayor’s office.
“I cannot remember it being harder to get information than it is now. I don’t know why that is,” he said.
Shook said he asked for information related to the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management several months ago, but only received a response after losing his cool in a committee meeting earlier this week “because I just couldn’t take another six months to get an answer.”
Reed’s office did not respond to a request for comment over the councilmembers’ transparency concerns.
Geisler said Reed officials aren’t trying to block Moore’s access, but that “given this period of cyber security, and hacks and hackers,” giving her a username and password to view payment records threatens the city’s IT security by opening up “multiple points of access.”
He cited a 2012 report from auditing company KPMG that raised concerns about giving broad entry into the city’s network.
“How many people do you see who tape their password to their laptop?” he said as an example of potential problems.
Geisler compared the issue to providing a master key for a building, explaining that the more people who have the master key, the less need there is for locks. Granting her permission could set precedent for others to receive the same, he said.
Moore is currently the only councilmember making the request.
The COO doesn’t dispute that the information Moore wants is public record, but said it can be provided without granting system access. Instead, Geisler offered to give Moore monthly and quarterly reports of payments.
Moore insisted on direct access. Her request is unusual, as councilmembers typically rely on the executive branch to compile and provide data from the city’s departments.
But Moore said she believes it’s necessary after months of receiving incomplete responses to her requests. Earlier this year Moore waged a public battle for information about salary increases, data that Reed’s administration eventually provided.
“I don’t want it to come through you,” she said. “I don’t need the administration to be the gatekeeper. I don’t want them to be the filter. I want to see it myself.”
District 6 Councilman Alex Wan rejected Geisler’s argument and said there are “technological solutions” to his concerns.
“You are losing me on this one, I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “(The request) doesn’t seem unreasonable when it is, as Ms. Moore said, public information.”
Moore and the COO agreed to meet in coming days to address her request. She pledged to keep up her fight, noting she would picket if necessary, unless she is granted entry to the city’s computer records.
“I don’t know what it is, if there’s anything out there that they are afraid I’ll see,” she said. “… They’re telling me I can’t open the door, because they have the master key.”
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