subscriber servicessubscribecontact usabout ussite mapBuy a Classified
Fri, Dec 05 2008 

Published: February 15, 2008 01:45 am    print this story   email this story   comment on this story  

Judge orders Rivesville officials to provide records

By Paul Fallon
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT A conflict between the Rivesville council and former recorder and town resident John Harless has escalated to circuit court.

Judge David R. Janes heard both sides of the case Thursday, which dealt with several Freedom of Information Act requests filed by Harless concerning Rivesville records. The requests were made for various financial documents, such as the town’s check registry. Harless also sent requests for profit-and-loss financial statements for each of the town’s departments.

Harless had received copies of the check registry. However, the names of the people the checks were made out to had been blacked out. The memo section of the checks had also been blacked out because they had Social Security numbers written on them, according to DeAndra Burton, Rivesville town attorney.

Janes ruled in favor of Harless, ordering the town officials to provide the records to the Rivesville resident. The judge informed the council members who were present at the hearing to provide Harless with copies of the town’s check registry among the numerous other records that were requested.

“This information that Mr. Harless has requested, as painful as it is, is public information,” Janes said after his ruling.

“You can redact (black out) the Social Security numbers, but not the names on the checks,” Janes said.

Janes also ruled that the council members could not charge more than 25 cents per page for copies of the documents provided to Harless. Rivesville officials recently passed an ordinance requiring that a fee of 75 cents per page for copies would be levied for all information requested from the town records.

“I think that today, 25 cents is a reasonable fee,” Janes said.

Rivesville officials are also required to reimburse Harless for court costs, Janes said. Harless did not hire a lawyer and instead represented himself at the proceedings so council does not have to reimburse him for attorney fees. Janes added that the court costs will probably cost the town approximately $205.

“I think the hearing went well,” said Harless following the proceedings. “And I am satisfied with what I received.”

Tammie Crites, Rivesville mayor, said that she did not disagree with the ruling. However, she added that she did not believe the FOIA requests from Harless would stop now that the case has been decided.

“I think that we’ll continue to be barraged with FOIA requests by Mr. Harless to no constructive purpose,” Crites said.

Crites, along with Burton, added that they had believed at the time that they were protecting the privacy of town employees when they redacted the names from the copy of the check registry provided to Harless. The two insisted that they did not intentionally try to hide financial information from him.

Harless had originally filed suit against both Crites and Barb Beatty, town recorder, in both their official capacity as well as personally. Janes had dismissed the suit against the two in their personal capacity.

E-mail Paul Fallon at pfallon@timeswv.com.

print this story   email this story   comment on this story  

Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.



monster
Premier Guide
Find a business

Walking Fingers
Maps, Menus, Store hours, Coupons, and more...
Premier Guide

Find a job! Find a Home! Find a car!

Premium Jobs

RN /LPN
RN /LPN
Golden Living Center -
Morgantown is accepting applications for Full time or Flex positions for 2pm -
...>MORE

Administrative Assistant
Administrative Assistant: TMS, a leading federal contractor, is seeking a motivated entry level professional to perform ...>MORE

Communications Services Representative
Communications Services Representative Salary: $9.75-$10.50  Justice FCU seeks candidate to fill a vacancy at our Bridge...>MORE

Employment Opportunities. JOB FAIR
Employment Opportunities. West Virginia University, Division of Human
Resources. JOB FAIR, Tuesday, October 28, 10
...>MORE

EASY INDOOR $8-$13 per hour
ATTENTION
GREAT ENVIRONMENT
EASY INDOOR
YEAR ROUND JOBS
$8-$13/HR
(304)363-0155
...>MORE

OPEN INTERVIEWS
Earn $$$$ for the Holidays.... Full time, Part time, and temporary positions are available for immediate employment. OP...>MORE

Different positions UHC
The Future of Health Care is Here (And You Could Be Too!)
The new United Hospital Center: Opening 2010!
Exci
...>MORE

Director, Physician Group Practice
Director, Physician Group Practice
North Central Wv physician management entity has opening for an aggressive, mult
...>MORE

MACHINIST &Polishing MachineOperators
SWANSON PLATING COMPANY
Polishing Machine
Operators

New Polisher positions have been created at Sw
...>MORE

Receptionist
Receptionist 
Morgantown accounting firm seeking receptionist. Experience with general office equipment and Micros
...>MORE

See all ads


 

Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.CNHI Classified Advertising NetworkCNHI News Service
Associated Press content © 2008. All rights reserved. AP content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Our site is powered by Zope and our Internet Yellow Pages site is powered by PremierGuide.
Some parts of our site may require you to download the Flash Player Plugin.
View our Privacy Policy
Advertiser index