County Board Rules on ELi’s FOIA Appeal

Photo: Ingham County FOIA Coordinator Becky Bennett speaks at last night’s hearing.

Last night, the Ingham County Board of Commissioners heard Alice Dreger’s appeal under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). As Publisher of ELi, Dreger has been requesting records of all communications between County Clerk Barb Byrum and “the person who called himself or herself ‘Steve Meadows’.”

The Board unanimously ruled that Dreger’s request had been legally answered by the County, but decided in a split-vote to ask Byrum to put in writing that she had in fact turned over everything owed under this FOIA request.

A person using the name “Steve Meadows” emailed a campaign finance complaint to Byrum against Erik Altmann on the Thursday before the East Lansing City Council election. The next day, this complaint was turned by Byrum’s office into a State-level campaign finance complaint against candidates Altmann, Steve Ross, and Mark Meadows. Since then, Dreger and others unaffiliated with ELi have been trying to determine who “Steve Meadows” is.

Dreger told the Board that attempts to obtain material via the County’s FOIA office have proved frustrating. Dreger’s initial FOIA request for “communications between Byrum and Steve Meadows, as well as related correspondence” was fulfilled by County FOIA Coordinator Bennett, but with a redaction of “Steve Meadows’” email address. Redacting email addresses in FOIA responses is unusual in other governmental units, according to Dreger, but it is standard practice in Ingham County according to Bennett.

Further requests from Dreger for records of all communications (emails, direct messages, texts, notes, and phone records) between Byrum and “the person who called himself or herself ‘Steve Meadows” were answered by Bennett with either “non-answers, confusing answers or cryptic answers,” according to Dreger. Dreger therefore requested last night’s FOIA appeal hearing before the Board of Commissioners.

The appeal hearing opened with Bennett telling the Commissioners how the various FOIA requests were asked and answered. Then Dreger addressed the Commissioners, telling them, “I want to make sure the County has asked Clerk Byrum for [all communications] and that she has given an appropriate response, and that any materials due to me under the Freedom of Information Act have been provided.”

Board of Commissioners Chairperson Brian McGrain asked the County lawyer Peter Cohl if there had been any violation of the FOIA. Cohl replied, “All information requested has been given just not in the form requested.” Dreger indicated she was satisfied by Cohl’s response that her FOIA request had been appropriately answered.

Cohl suggested that Dreger could withdraw her appeal, but Dreger asked instead that the Commissioners formally vote to deny her appeal, so that the determination that the FOIA request had been appropriately answered would formally be theirs.

During a discussion that followed this, Commissioners Carol Koenig and Deb Nolan said they wanted a written statement from Clerk Byrum stating that she had in fact turned over all FOIA materials requested. Koenig and Nolan felt that neither the Commissioners, Attorney Cohl, nor Coordinator Bennett could answer for Byrum on the question of whether she fully answered the FOIA request.

The Commissioners voted unanimously to deny Dreger’s appeal. The majority of Commissioners then voted to ask Byrum for a written statement saying she had fulfilled the request. Commissioners Victor Celentino, Todd Tennis, and Kara Hope voted against, but lost to the majority. (Commissioner Penelope Tsernoglou, who is married to Steve Ross, was not in attendance as she is on maternity leave. Clerk Byrum was also not in attendance.)

Attorney Cohl advised the Commissioners they can ask this of Byrum, but that she is under no legal obligation to answer them.

If you want to watch the hearing, click here.