Bibb school board discusses transparency policies

The Bibb County school board took a look at three separate policies related to transparency at its Thursday committee meeting.

An open records policy was up for its first reading, so no action could be taken at the meeting. The aim of the policy is to create a precedent in writing for the superintendent and his staff to set clear guidelines for the fair and legal release of documents at the request of the public or media.

"We want to be an open government," board attorney Randy Howard said. "We want to be fair for all requesters."

That concept of fairness was expressed in the policy itself and also highlighted by board member Tom Hudson. He said some people who requested documents in the past had been charged different amounts than others for documents or data. He said some had been charged but never paid.

"I think the favoritism needs to be cut out," Hudson said. "I think there needs to be a process for that."

Hudson and board member Lester Miller suggested that elements, such as the cost for documents and the labor required to fill the request, be laid out in the policy so the board could give input. Superintendent Curtis Jones said the board could handle the policy however it wished, but he noted that allowing such aspects to be handled as a regulation allows for smoother changes in the future if inflation or other factors affect costs.

"It can be as detailed as you want or as general as you want," he said.

Also Thursday, the board unanimously passed a new constituent services protocol, which outlines how issues presented by community members would be handled.

"The entire protocol is just to establish a relationship between the board and the district," Howard said.

Board members supported the policy but want to make sure it won't restrict their ability to give out information when they had it on hand. The first step of the protocol calls for board members to handle requests when they can but then provides steps to follow from there, such as directing the constituent to another source within the system.

"It keeps us from running all over the place," said board member Wanda West. "It keeps us from arbitrarily deciding that we have the power to do things when we don't know whether we do or we don't."

A proposed revision to the board's committee policy had to be tabled to clarify the selection process for a citizen oversight committee, which would provide input on education special purpose local option sales tax project spending. Board members supported the idea of such a committee but wanted to add language to the policy that would ensure each district had a representative.

"It would seem to me that if this is a community-wide vote, I think we need to make sure every part of the county is represented," Miller said.

Board members will present nominations for the committee at the board's next meeting Dec. 17.

To contact writer Jeremy Timmerman, call 744-4331 or find him on Twitter@MTJTimm.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 6:30 PM with the headline "Bibb school board discusses transparency policies ."