Pilot puts officials to test

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Sunshine Week” is an annual event that advocates for more open government. To mark the occasion, we asked various public officials for information as a sort of test to see how accessible and transparent they are. Terry Francke, an expert with the open government advocacy group Californians Aware, helped us assess how the agencies responded.

SCHOOL DISTRICT, UC Irvine

I made two requests for information from local agencies. The first was from the Newport-Mesa School District Nutrition Services Department. I asked how much it cost to dispose of the beef the district received from Westland Meat Company, which made headlines when the company’s inhumane treatment of cattle resulted in the biggest meat recall in U.S. history. I asked Richard Greene, director of nutrition services, for the proper paperwork over the phone. He responded with a few questions before saying he would get right on it.

“I have never had anyone ask me for the trash bill before,” he said.

A few days later, Greene called to tell me it would take some time to produce the invoice bill. The bill was being processed for the district.

Terry Francke said Greene’s response seemed reasonable.

The second request I made concerned salaries at UC Irvine. I went to the human resources department to ask whether I could view salaries for the 14 deans and Chancellor Michael Drake. They informed me the school’s records office was in charge of that. So I called that office and was informed all salary information was available in the school’s library for the 2006-2007 school year.

I went to the library and found the computer area where I could view the records. The room usually requires a UCI ID to use, but my driver’s license sufficed. I wasn’t allowed to make copies or print the list, but could copy information by hand.

Francke said that if Californians Aware conducted the audit, UCI would have lost points if it “left the impression that the public’s only option was to copy public records by hand.” He added I was entitled to a copy of the printed list.

— Dan Tedford

COSTA MESA POLICE

I’m working on an article about two Costa Mesa men suing Washington Mutual, and a woman with whom they worked, for multiple counts of what they call fraud and identity theft. They filed a complaint with Costa Mesa police in April 2006, and I requested the report from department’s front desk.