Cabell County 911; Disenfranchising Our Most Vulnerable Plainly stated, our Cabell County 911 Center in Huntington, WV is a lawsuit waiting to happen Or perhaps more succinctly, they are STILL a lawsuit waiting to happen. T he Cabell County 911 Center in Huntington is no stranger to litigation for failing to abide by their legal obligations Th is same center was s ued by the ACLU of West Virginia in February 2022 for fai ling to comply with a public information request and they are again failing to comply with a public information request less than one year later A fact which rais es several concerns ; primary among them are questions surrounding the staff ’s receipt of supplemental training from the Cabell County Commission on the correct legal handling of information requests since their February 2022 failure Public information r equests , sometimes referred to as Freedom of Information Act (FIOA) requests at the Federal level , or Freedom of Information (FOI) requests at the West Virginia state level are a right of every citize n But, having the right to access public information and having the ability to overcome the obstacles Cabell County 911 erects to complicate public information request s are two very different things. Despite the center quickly becoming known as an emergen cy services provider unwilling to share public information with the public, the obstacles they’re creating disen franchis e some of the most vulnerable among us. M y recent experience with Cabell County 911 ’s information request process demonstrates their lac k of contingency planning , legal training , and perhaps most notably their unwillingness to accommodate our most vulnerable citizens in obtaining the information the y are paid to m aintain and provide Recently, I found myself needing to request public information via th is Cabell County 911 Center. For convenience, t he 911 center provide s an electronic form for the public to submit record request s . Included on the form they provide is an indicator for ho w the requestor would prefer to receive the information which include pickup, standard mail, or other For m y request , I checked “other” as my delivery preference and in the provided text box, I elaborated by typing “email:” and an email address to which t hey should provide the information. I then submitted my request via an online electronic fax service to the FOIA fax number provided on their website on December 24 th , 2022. Just like that, and with no paper involved on my end, my request was delivered Ca bell County 911’s response? Crickets. O nly after my second attempt in which I forward ed my original FOIA request form, a fax confirmation sheet , and the additional details needed to complete my request on January 6 th , 2023 via the email alternative for FOIA request s did I receive a response from Cabell County 911 on Monday, January 9 th , 2023. Getting that response took multiple follow - up emails including emails to three Cabell County Commissioners (all without a response to this day) and then a restated request to Cabell County 911 nearly two weeks later. All despite the fact that WV law requires Cabell County 911 to respond to every request within 5 business days. Now, f inally, after 11 days I had received a response from Assistant Direct or, Tatum. Mr. Tatum informed me that he had been out of office the previous week and that’s why I had not received a response. Further, he explained that I had submitted the request anonymously and not provided an address to which they could send the bill for processing my public records request. It was for these reasons that Mr. Tatum said the public “records will not be released until payment is received.” I thought I had already paid for these records, sir? I pay taxes. They should be freely available f or my review, right? Pardon me while I digress for a moment Knowing that g overnment transparency is part of the fundamental bedrock of an uncorrupted democracy , there ’s really no question of a citizen’s right to request and review public ly available infor mation A public ly owned entity’s transparency and accountability to its citizens are essential for its citizens to be informed caretakers of the public assets with which that public entity has been entrusted. Our F ound ing Fathers understood this and gave us the right to ‘ petition to redress ’ our grievances to our government entities in the First Amendment However, a redress of grievances can be difficult at times when t he public ly available information needed to do so i s locked away or just needless ly obstructed by government red tape . In this case, by illegal requirements like the gathering of personal identification and duplicate payment s on top of your already paid taxes... But, p erhaps mo st concerning how is those obstacles disenfranchise the most vulnerable among us. I found multiple issues with Mr. Tatum’s response. First, WV FOI law does not allow a n extension of time for employee vacations . This is nothing more than poor planning and preparation. This also means that it is very likely that Cabell County 911 has been in violation of WV FOI more than once and most likely every time Mr. Tatum h as taken a week of vacation. There is no reason multiple public employees couldn’t be trained to handle information requests as a contingency . What happens if Mr. Tatum becomes incapacitated or is otherwise made unavailable to perform his duties? Are the people of Cabell County expected to sit and wait beyond the legally mandated 5 - day response window until Mr. Tatum’s return to hav e access to their records ? Or, should the Cabell County Commission and Cabell County 911 ’s leadership make sure that there is more than one custodian with key s to the proverbial vault? Second, a government entity can not for ce you to identif y yourself to ga in public records. T he U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment clause states there exists a “ right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures ...” Requiring identification to obtain inform ation that is publicly available definitely meets the level of unreasonable. And since there is no requirement in federal FOIA nor WV FOI for a person to identify when making a public information request, there is no legal basis for declining to fulfill an anonymous public information request. Further , West Virginia FOI 1 - 3(a) specifically states that “every person has a right to inspect or copy any public record of a public body in this state...” So, what would be the point of requiring identification to obt ain it anyway ? Anyone can have it and therefore, anyone can request it. The dissemination of public information happens every day through various public information outlets without the know ledge of which specific members of the public are receiving it Why is it an issue now? Then comes the problem of requesting payment fo r public information. WV FOI 1 - 3(c) says , “ If the records requested exist in magnetic, electronic or computer form, the custodian of the records shall make copies available on magnetic or electronic media, if so requested. ” M y request was related to personnel information which is undoubtedly maintained electronically and therefore, should be made available to me electronically. Also , West Virginia FOI 1 - 3(e) states , “ T he public body may establish fees reasonably calculated to reimburse it f or its actual cost in making reproductions of records. A public body may not charge a search or retrieval fee or otherwise seek reimbursement based on a man - hour basis as part of costs associated with making reproduction of records .” The key phrase here is “ actual cost ” Actual costs would be incurred if Cabell County 911 was requested to make paper copies of public records or to provide a USB drive containing the contents of a 911 interaction. However, there is no “actual cost” incurred for sending someone an email. This is especially true considering that we as members of the public have already pa id for the man - hours to complete the request through our public tax dollars Legal wrangling and potential lawsuits aside, there is an immediate negative impact to members of our society for the failure of Cabell County 911 to comply with WV FOI law While I’m thankful to be blessed with decent health, physical mobility, and a few extra dollars in my pocket... not all of my friends , family , and neighbors are so luck y Cabell County 911’s decision to p ut up what amounts to a paywall to prohibit the free exchange of public information as was intended by the spirit of WV FOI law has the immediate effect of disenfranchising those experiencing financial hardship s Many of our local citizens struggle to afford a cell phone or even an internet connect ion but Cabell County 911 wants to charge its citizens even more to access the records they’ve already paid for That’s simply adding insult to injury S ince there are no actual cost s incurred other than man - hours – which they legally can not charge for because it’s already paid by the taxpayer – wh at exactly is Cabell County 911 charging for? Pressing send on an email ? And why the hesitation to deliver the information v ia email? The center takes information requests by email, and email works both directions ? My last point of contention is this... providing the public with only two options ; going to the 911 center to collect their public records request or paying to have it mailed to them when a third option of digital delivery is available is nothing short of intentionally choosing to make it more difficult for members of the public to obtain records Forcing members of the public to physically drive to or pay for a ride to the center, or pay out their hard - earned cash for delivery of records that could just as easily be provided for free electronically has the immediate effect of disenfranchising citizens with physical disabilities and/or who are experiencing a financial ha rdship T here are many citizens in our county who are blind , disabled, in a w heel chair , or who s imply cannot or do not drive for many reasons some of which include the cost Why would Cabell County 911 needlessly (and illegally) erect what is essentially a paywall and other obstacles like in - person pick - up or postage to access public information ? Cabell County 911 employees are supposed to be the good guys ; the people who citizens call in an emergency. But these days , it seems they’ve become more like the literary c haracter ‘ the Sheriff of Nottingham ’ from Robin Hood . They’ll happily take y our tax es and then ask for more to provide you the things you ’ve already paid for.