Public Records

Public Records

A workshop on North Carolina's open records laws drew about 40 officials to Gastonia on Tuesday. The workshop, hosted by Attorney General Roy Cooper and the N.C. Press Association, was based on a new "Guide to Open Government and Public Records" booklet that the Press Association and Cooper's office unveiled in February. The booklet is designed to give clear, condensed basics of the state's laws on open records and meetings, said association director Beth Grace. A three-member panel gave a brief overview of the state's open records laws and discussed related scenarios. Law enforcement officers, lawyers and officials from Gaston, Lincoln, Cleveland, Union, Mecklenburg, Caldwell and Catawba counties attended.

Grace said it was coincidence that the training comes less than a month after media groups from across the state sued Gov. Mike Easley for the "systematic deletion, destruction or concealment" of e-mail messages believed to be public records. David Lawrence, a professor at the UNC School of Government, said state employees' e-mails are considered public records if they contain information related to public business -- even if that e-mail comes through a personal account. The state Department of Cultural Resources has guidelines for when e-mail can be destroyed, but those are now being scrutinized in light of the lawsuit. Grace said she expects to hold one or two more "on-the-road" regional public records training sessions this year.

(Deborah Hirsch, THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/14/08).