On Monday, April 4, Bobbi Anne Hancock, a local concerned citizen, filed an open records request with the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority requesting the minutes of their meetings from 2006 to the present.

According to Hancock, she had to ask Allen Ricketts, project manager, five times if she could receive an itemized invoice for the charges before she picked up the requested information.

The invoice informed her that she would need to pay $125.09 for the flash drive with the meeting minutes.

“I almost dropped the phone when I found out it would be that much,” said Hancock. “I thought it would be cheaper to get the information on a disk.”

Due to the cost, she was unable to obtain the information she requested.

The invoice Hancock received stated the following costs were incurred by the Authority to fulfill the request: $10 for one flash-drive and $121.15 for five hours of staff time at a rate of $24.23 per hour. For the first 15 minutes of staff time, $6.06 was deducted from the final cost.

Georgia Sunshine Laws 50-18-71 sections (d) and (e) state: “The hourly cost charge shall not exceed the salary of the lowest paid full-time employee who,

in the discretion of the custodian of the records, has the necessary skill and training to perform the request; provided, however, that no charge shall be made for the first quarter hour.”

Section (e) states: “An agency shall utilize the most economical means available for providing copies of public records.”

In response, The Valdosta Daily Times submitted their own Open Records Request for the salaries of all Industrial Authority employees.

According to the information provided by the Authority, the lowest paid full-time employee, the Operations Manager, is paid an annual salary of $46,526. When this number is divided by 2080, (52 weeks multiplied by 40 hours per week) it shows that the lowest paid full-time employee is making $22.40 per hour.

An Authority receptionist is working part-time at a rate of $10.25 per hour.

“We have provided the information that you requested and if you would like to discuss this any further, I would suggest that you speak with Jerry Jennet, our chairman. I have no further comment,” said Ricketts.

Jennet, who is out of town this weekend, offered to answer questions in the presence of J. Stephen Gupton, the Authority attorney, on Monday at their offices.

“We’re going to do it together or we’re not going to do it,” said Gupton, after refusing to answer questions over the telephone, despite being told that the story was running Sunday.

According to Hancock, Ricketts explained to her that the five hours required to process these documents were a result of changing the format from word documents into .pdf files. Unofficially, the Times was told that this was done as a security matter so that the minutes could not be altered.

The meeting minutes are not available from the Authority unless citizens file a formal request.

In comparison, meeting minutes for the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners, City of Valdosta, City of Hahira, City of Lake Park, City of Remerton and the City of Dasher are all available for free on their websites.

Hancock, a student and single mother, believes these costs are discriminatory towards poor people.

“It’s taken the biomass controversy for me to become aware of the lack of respect towards citizens from officials,” said Hancock. “Their agenda is not to help the citizens of this community.”