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I’m for transparency in government. Not just for the government of West Easton, but at all levels.

When I ran for Council, transparency was the foundation of that run, having been stonewalled myself when seeking information as a private citizen.

There is, however, some confusion with certain aspects of what are commonly referred to as The Sunshine Act and the Right To Know Law (RTKL).

With regard to The Sunshine Act, what can be construed as a “meeting” of public officials? This one was a concern to a few of us that were recently elected.

When we first gained access to the borough offices, we misunderstood the requirements that constituted a violation of the The Sunshine Act. So concerned were we that there might be 4 of us in the building (a quorum of Council) as we came and went, that one of us would step outside to allow the other three to get their mail, or ask a question of our clerk.

As it turns out there is more to an illegal meeting than just the number of people. There are 3 parts to it and all are required to be a violation.

1. There must be a number of sitting (sworn in) members that constitutes a quorum. For West Easton, that would be 4 or more Councilpersons.
2. The meeting must have been planned in advance without public notice given. That is, the quorum planned to meet at a particular location.
3. Actions regarding voting on issues, ordinances, resolutions, and other matters of government are discussed by all present.

I bring this up because you may at times recognize a number of cars belonging to Council members parked at Borough Hall. With everything currently going on, I have no doubt that someone will make note of it and claim an illegal act – something already done before I was even sworn in, when a number of us were scrambling to find a clerk for the Reorganization Meeting on January 4th.

There are also exceptions to #2, above. Community events and training meetings are a couple of those exceptions.

Right To Know Law

Many are unsure of what can be refused when submitting a RTKL Request.

There is a long list, but some of what can be refused, or redacted from documents, are:

Social Security numbers
Driver’s License numbers
Employee numbers
Personal financial information
Spouses name, marital status, beneficiary, or dependent information

What constitutes a record when seeking information held by a public agency? Those are:

Paper records
Emails
Phone records
Text messages
Blueprints
Audio recordings
Security camera footage
Vehicle data recordings
Dash/Body camera video recordings

It’s interesting to note that West Easton will be installing a field camera (probably in the Spring) that will take snapshots of an area where illegal dumping occurs. I believe that a request for images that relate to an incident, that might be retained on file from that camera, would be subject to an RTKL request.

The field camera would be treated the same as any security camera footage, that has been copied and retained by the Borough, before it was lost due to overwriting that the system employs after a certain amount of days elapses. If the Borough were to retain a copy of specific incidents, those retained copies would be subject to the RTKL and would have to be made available to any citizen who asked for them.

I depend heavily on a Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs (PSAB) website these days in answering many of the questions I have as a new Councilman. Most of the PSAB is publicly accessible, with the exception of training webinar videos.
Should you wish to read more about the Sunshine Act and the RTKL, you can visit the PSAB page by clicking HERE.