I'm not a fan of serial records requests if it's only fishing, but where there's smoke, there's fire. Follow your gut and keep the readers in the loop.
Sometimes the best stories start with a hunch, followed by a records request. Other times, they start as tips. And many times, what you initially expect to find isn't what end up finding.
Fun fact, I was once accused of "fishing" by a county planning and zoning department head (not this one) when I was investigating why a dam failed way earlier than it should have, causing all kinds of chaos. I was stunned. He also tried to make me make appointments to look at the records because I was disruptive to staff. It was literally me sitting at an empty cubicle looking through a big box of records, and once or twice politely asking a staff member to get me the next box since they didn't want me to go into the room itself. Staff never seemed put out to do it and anyway it's illegal to make that requirement. (Of course, the other question was if the county was so concerned to find out what had happened, why was I the first person to go through the records?)
Good work. The fact that I'm here says I read the whole thing. Main takeaway so far is that Kronenwetter is not friendly to open records requests and didn't put in much effort to eliminate duplication and overlap.
Thanks Pat. I thought the single-line email thread (and I just had to show a picture so people understood what I mean) was the most egregious offense and not something I've encountered in nearly two decades of journalism. It's not that I'm not sympathetic to the challenges of a small municipality but I can't even imagine how such an email thread came about. It doesn't occur in the wild like that in any form I've seen.
I had some troubles like that when trying to copy some Facebook comments for a recent open records request I had to comply with, but they're supposed to be a little more tech savvy than a guy who's 70-something.
Yes, I agree also. Total transparency is paramount in all levels of government. Federal, State and local levels seem to think and act as if their work is theirs and take many questions or critiques personally.
In all cases, at all levels, the Tax Payer is BOSS!
By design, thru ordinance’s and other means, most government structure comes down to “control” and “job security”
If there is one thing a journalist can be biased toward, it's transparency! In effect I'm doing the same by putting this out there, showing my subscribers the behind-the-scenes process.
How's this going along? I've had my suspicions of an incredibly toxic environment growing over the last few months which were inflamed with the former community development director's quotes about Joel Straub making so much of the staff resign during his county board interviews. It's pretty apparent there's a big conflict between Downey and the Board (0% raise, them saying not to talk during meetings etc). The three you listed (Jaeger, Straub, Charneski) were the ones I picked up the hostility on it the most too. There was even a vote to remove Jaeger this year but of course Straub and others wouldn't do that and voted it down.
At their last village board their planning commission chair even listed of all of the staff and said "do better" to the board during the public comment. Surely they're beginning to realize that you can't function as a village losing 2 clerks, 2 development directors, finance director, public work director, fire chief and several lower level staff. A cursory google search of Downey shows like a dozen applications to other municipalities in and out of state so he's certainly trying to get out before he's sacked. He's come in second place several times but hasn't quite gotten an offer.
I like my local politics boring, but this is like a car crash - I just can't look away. They're at like 4 staff members in office right now - when they should be close to 10.
I'm a new subscriber so I have some reading to do but this is what originally caught my eye. I had of course seen all the record request items by their lawyer in their minutes so I'm glad to see where at least some of it has gone. Thanks for covering this and showing your insight. Good luck with those emails!
I appreciate the subscription! I reached out to Downey for a list of staff who'd left - an interesting caveat is that I started my records request with Cindra who'd been there forever, then it was fulfilled by Sashe, and now the clerk position is empty. I will stay on this story!
I'm not a fan of serial records requests if it's only fishing, but where there's smoke, there's fire. Follow your gut and keep the readers in the loop.
Sometimes the best stories start with a hunch, followed by a records request. Other times, they start as tips. And many times, what you initially expect to find isn't what end up finding.
Fun fact, I was once accused of "fishing" by a county planning and zoning department head (not this one) when I was investigating why a dam failed way earlier than it should have, causing all kinds of chaos. I was stunned. He also tried to make me make appointments to look at the records because I was disruptive to staff. It was literally me sitting at an empty cubicle looking through a big box of records, and once or twice politely asking a staff member to get me the next box since they didn't want me to go into the room itself. Staff never seemed put out to do it and anyway it's illegal to make that requirement. (Of course, the other question was if the county was so concerned to find out what had happened, why was I the first person to go through the records?)
Anyway, thanks for reading!
Good work. The fact that I'm here says I read the whole thing. Main takeaway so far is that Kronenwetter is not friendly to open records requests and didn't put in much effort to eliminate duplication and overlap.
Thanks Pat. I thought the single-line email thread (and I just had to show a picture so people understood what I mean) was the most egregious offense and not something I've encountered in nearly two decades of journalism. It's not that I'm not sympathetic to the challenges of a small municipality but I can't even imagine how such an email thread came about. It doesn't occur in the wild like that in any form I've seen.
I had some troubles like that when trying to copy some Facebook comments for a recent open records request I had to comply with, but they're supposed to be a little more tech savvy than a guy who's 70-something.
haha yes, Facebook doesn't lend itself to that very well. Especially a comment thread.
Yes, I agree also. Total transparency is paramount in all levels of government. Federal, State and local levels seem to think and act as if their work is theirs and take many questions or critiques personally.
In all cases, at all levels, the Tax Payer is BOSS!
By design, thru ordinance’s and other means, most government structure comes down to “control” and “job security”
. . . my opinion,
Mark
If there is one thing a journalist can be biased toward, it's transparency! In effect I'm doing the same by putting this out there, showing my subscribers the behind-the-scenes process.
How's this going along? I've had my suspicions of an incredibly toxic environment growing over the last few months which were inflamed with the former community development director's quotes about Joel Straub making so much of the staff resign during his county board interviews. It's pretty apparent there's a big conflict between Downey and the Board (0% raise, them saying not to talk during meetings etc). The three you listed (Jaeger, Straub, Charneski) were the ones I picked up the hostility on it the most too. There was even a vote to remove Jaeger this year but of course Straub and others wouldn't do that and voted it down.
At their last village board their planning commission chair even listed of all of the staff and said "do better" to the board during the public comment. Surely they're beginning to realize that you can't function as a village losing 2 clerks, 2 development directors, finance director, public work director, fire chief and several lower level staff. A cursory google search of Downey shows like a dozen applications to other municipalities in and out of state so he's certainly trying to get out before he's sacked. He's come in second place several times but hasn't quite gotten an offer.
I like my local politics boring, but this is like a car crash - I just can't look away. They're at like 4 staff members in office right now - when they should be close to 10.
Thanks for reading, Bert. I am still working it. It's a LOT of emails. I have other sources and plans for gathering info. Stick with me!
I'm a new subscriber so I have some reading to do but this is what originally caught my eye. I had of course seen all the record request items by their lawyer in their minutes so I'm glad to see where at least some of it has gone. Thanks for covering this and showing your insight. Good luck with those emails!
I appreciate the subscription! I reached out to Downey for a list of staff who'd left - an interesting caveat is that I started my records request with Cindra who'd been there forever, then it was fulfilled by Sashe, and now the clerk position is empty. I will stay on this story!