Traverse City Record-Eagle. March 9, 2024.
Editorial: Hiding behind fees isn’t what FOIA is for
Governments are people and, from time to time, people do embarrassing things. Things they’d rather not display — like a mural on the side of a big Detroit skyscraper.
However, in the matter of a half-dozen such large-scale murals, and the investigation into whether the deal was on the up-and-up, exorbitant Freedom of Information Act fees are acting as a shroud.
Detroit Free Press reporters are looking into how the $215,000 “Detroit Be the Change” murals were contracted and approved, after online backlash erupted about using artists from far-flung places like Australia, Germany, Nigeria and France instead of local artists in the hometown-pride campaign.
Detroit’s director of planning and development executed the contracts after the art was done, and the Freep filed a FOIA request for four months of emails regarding the process.
They received a $17,000 quote — for emails already created on the public dime about how further dimes are spent on projects, not only in the public interest but in full public view.
Michigan’s FOIA law allows agencies to recoup costs spent on mailing, photocopies, finding and separating records. But the quote said the search and separation will require 12.5 hours of attorney time and 315 hours of staff time at hourly rates of $30 and $39, plus benefits.
If your jaw isn’t on the floor, consider this — FOIA is how taxpayers access their government. All taxpayers.
Journalists are just a fraction of FOIA users — only 7.6 percent, according to a 2017 study by Columbia Journalism Review. More requests come from businesses (39 percent), individuals (20 percent) and law firms (16.7 percent).
If journalists are experiencing this, likely others are, too.
“It’s one of the big problems with Michigan FOIA that allows public bodies to hide behind excessive fee demands to keep the public in the dark about its own business,” Herschel Fink, Free Press legal counsel, said in a Freep story.
The story also noted the news outlet is working with the city on the request to get costs down.
But the FOIA fees issue — widespread in Michigan and certainly experienced at the Record-Eagle — still remains.
Lisa McGraw, Michigan Press Association spokesperson, said the group is lobbying for better FOIA response times, and on the attitude in general.
“The biggest overarching issue with transparency and government officials is that they see it as a burden, not an essential service that they would provide to the citizens,” McGraw told the Freep.
This comes through in the delays, fees, and other shoo-fly experiences that come with Michigan FOIA. Widespread governmental discomfort shows that, even when missteps aren’t intentional, they can appear to be.
And this story won’t be shooed-away. Detroit City Council members canceled the artist group contract, which may come back on the city. And then there’s the matter of the “Detroit Be the Change” murals themselves, a visual reminder that good government needs openness, transparency and accountability. Not shrouds.
___
Alpena News. March 7, 2024.
Editorial: Volunteer for hospice
Hospice of Michigan provides a meaningful and important service, helping to ensure compassionate end-of-life care for patients.
To do that, Hospice depends on teams of volunteers to spend time with patients to make sure their final days are filled with companionship.
Now, News staff writer Mike Gonzalez reported recently, Hospice is in urgent need of additional volunteers to work with patients in Presque Isle County.
The group needs one to three volunteers to serve in each of Posen, Rogers City, Presque Isle, and Millersburg, the group told Gonzalez.
Currently, volunteers from the Alpena area drive long distances to spend time with patients in those places. Hospice would like volunteers from patients’ communities.
No special skills are needed, just a willingness to spend time with someone who will appreciate it.
“Companionship volunteering can really look different depending on the person,” Kathy Lietaert, the statewide manager of volunteer services for Hospice of Michigan, told Gonzalez. “It might look like conversations with patients and family members, reading to patients, or even listening to music together. We do have musicians for patients, but it could be something as simple as playing something on your phone.”
We urge anyone who has the time and the heart to do the work to visit hom.org or call Lietaert at 231-779-5409.
“If you’re considering hospice volunteering, please make the leap,” Lietaert said. “You will receive so much in return when you can help patients and families at end of life. If you’re compassionate and have a desire to help others, this is the volunteering job for you.”
END