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Town of Garner puts index online

By Paul Tambasco
News Editor

After some reluctance to create the full-version of a public record first requested by The Garner Citizen, the town of Garner has now made the state-required document available to the public via its Web site.

The record — a detailed index of all town databases — became a legal requirement for the town and all other North Carolina public bodies in the late 1990s; however, when The Garner Citizen requested the indices last month from more than two dozen North Carolina municipalities, only a handful of larger ones had been complying with the law.

Links for the database index appeared on the town’s redesigned Web site Friday, Jan. 8, the same day the town provided the complete record to The Garner Citizen on CD.

Town officials said it made sense to place the record in the public realm.

“We did the work and decided to put it online in case anyone wants to see it, I suppose,” Town Manager Hardin Watkins said. “I don’t think there was any strategy to that — it’s available, and we put it out there.”

Of the municipalities contacted, Garner is the first to place the document on its Web site. Watkins said he thought others had done the same and had informed town staff.

“That may have given them the idea [to put it online],” he said. “If someone else has got it online, let’s just stick it out there too.”

Previously, town officials had said the full index was not worth the time and effort necessary to produce and maintain it. Completed, the index may help newcomers, Watkins said.

“I think the [list of the databases] has some value as folks are new to the town: a new employee, a new department head, me or a new Council member. The list … may give them an idea of some of the things we have.”

The law also requires public agencies to provide more detailed, esoteric information, including the field names for every database. Watkins doubts that portion of the record will help anyone at Town Hall do their job.

“Beyond [the list], I don’t think what was prepared has any value,” he said.

The final document took more than 50 hours of staff time to produce, town officials have said. While processing the request, they stressed to The Garner Citizen that employees would be moved off other tasks to assemble information for the record. Smaller municipalities, with less sophisticated systems, would have more difficulty complying with the law than larger ones.

Despite the challenges, Watkins said Garner has no interest in working to get the law revised to ease the burden for smaller agencies.

“I don’t have a view on that, honestly. As you pointed out, if we have got to do it, we’ll do it,” Watkins said. “That’s what we’re obligated to do. We complied to the best of our ability and knowledge about what we’re supposed to do.

“If someone thinks that law needs to be tweaked, that’s not something we’re going to get involved in,” he said.

Related articles:

• Garner slow to comply with public records ‘indexing’ law
• Shaw sues, says town did not follow its own bid rules
• Town buys Avery Street property to use in North Garner plan

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