Quincy officials outed over failing to provide Public Records to the public

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– Quincy News from elsewhere covered by Quincy Quarry News

Quincy officials outed over failing to provide Public Records to the public.

While long known by Quincy Quarry that City of Quincy officials have long failed to duly comply with merely but the current flaccid state regulations to provide the public with Public Records, the Quarry was heartened to finally see other media note that local officials appear to perhaps be even more remiss at providing Public Records to the public than are state officials.

Duly embattled mayor frowning
An old Facebook photo

In fact, there was not only one, not merely two but rather three news stories so far just this week by various local media exposing the variously very much less than satisfactory provision of Public Records to the public by various governmental entities in the Commonwealth.

In fact, as well as particularly heartening around the Quincy Quarry newsroom, the Boston broadsheet’s initial coverage provided two examples of the City of Quincy’s shortcomings.

In one instance, one request sent to Quincy was simply discarded – or at least no one in City Hall bothered to take the few moments it would have taken to duly forward along the request via interoffice mail to the appropriate party someone else in City Hall.

The book cover art for a book by John L. French

And in the other instance cited by the Boston broadsheet involving Quincy, before complying with the request, a senior City of Quincy official who really should know better first insisted upon payment of the highest costs imaginable and per very curious – if not also suspect – managerial decisions before the requested as well as essentially fundamental Public Records be provided.

Then again, this high payroll cost as well as arguable slacking on the job are only to be expected from this particular city department as it is currently undergoing an investigation of its operations by the Massachusetts Attorney General.

Caught shoveling it at a photo op by Charlie?
See the evil eye in this old Facebook photo

And it only becomes worse.

In the second article, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and apparently now former BFF of Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch was pointedly quoted by the Boston broadsheet as saying that cities and towns must comply with Massachusetts General Law as regards duly providing Public Documents to the public.

By contrast as well as to provide a good example of good practices, last summer Governor Baker ordered the various state entities under his direct control to both fully comply with current Public Records law as well as go even further to provide Public Records to the public.

To this Executive Order, Quincy Quarry must report that only are state agencies generally improving their compliance efforts at honoring the Quarry’s Public Records requests from previously generally tolerable rates of compliance – at least as compared to the City of Quincy’s woeful non-compliance, various state officials have also now commenced offering tips on how to lawfully obtain Public Records from others when they themselves cannot lawfully provide the requested documents and – again – especially as regards any such documents involving the City of Quincy.

WCVB 5 Newscopter Spy in the Sky
A wcvb.com image

And for the third piece of news coverage, Mike Beaudet, a Journalism professor at Northeastern Professor and now a WCVB Channel 5 senior reporter after years at FOX 25, co-covered this story that was developed via a hardworking group of journalism students.  

This coverage exposés how local and state government in Massachusetts are woefully inept in providing merely but standard Public Records to the public.

Text of this story can be read here as well as that video coverage of it can be seen here.

A QQ reporter hunt and pecking out a story
An old file photo

Whether – or not – Quincy Quarry’s offer to help its media brethren in Boston to further expose the City of Quincy’s long history of failing to duly provide Public Records – or much of anything else, for that matter – will result in even more embarrassing coverage for the City of Quincy by Boston-based media remains to be seen, however.

In the meanwhile, Quincy Quarry readers can expect to see plenty of other breaking badly bad news for Quincy’s City Hall duly reported by the Quarry.

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