Want to find out how much your local government is spending, where it’s spent or which government positions earn the most; there are a variety of publicly available documents to satisfy that curiosity. Want to know how a public official responded in an email conversation with other officials or are curious about what the Green River City Council approved in May 2017. There are documents that can answer those questions too.
Government documents and reports are the best window into how your governments operate. They show what is being spent and where, giving anyone looking at them a detailed view of how their local, municipal and county governments operate. These documents are incredibly important.
At the Green River Star, we’ve broke many stories with the assistance of these documents. While a lot of people would assume a “Deepthroat” informant leaking secret information to us is what generates articles aimed at revealing our local governments at work; more often than not, it’s access to publicly-available information that inspires those articles.
It’s access that needs to always be protected. While many custodians of public records will quickly grant access and even assist residents in understanding the information contained within those documents, some choose not to. While it’s easy to suggest those denials are made because they don’t want to be bothered or they legitimately don’t want someone to see the information contained in a document, both of which can and do happen, we believe many more denials to access are made because they’re unaware of what a person can look at.
We encourage residents to take a look at what their governing bodies are doing and ask to see the records those groups generate.
For anyone that has problems in seeking this information, give us a call. We’re more than happy to help you out.
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