Requirements of Public Records

As many of you know, Florida has broad public records laws. This ensures that people have access to what their government is doing. These records cover things like communications, calendars/meetings, documents, presentations and so on. You can request state records but also county/city records.

Individuals working in government or for the government can be required to produce records too. This covers government employees but also consultants/contractors doing work on behalf of the governmental entity. For instance, want communications from the firm that did the recent impact fee study? You can request, through the county, that they provide those records and they are by law required to produce them.

Its a great thing because it allows transparency. But the problem is that it doesnt always work or the process is confusing.

Take for instance this statute under 119.021 (seen here in full):

What does this mean? This means that anyone who has custody of records needs to turn them in when they leave their position. This can be the records custodian of the state/county/city. This could be your everyday employee who may have records in their office, home, personal computer/phone, etc. It is also your elected leaders, which is the focus of this post.

In Citrus County, we have several elected officials. County Commissioners, Sheriff, Supervisor of Elections, Property Appraiser, Clerk of Courts, Mosquito Control Board, City Mayors, City Council members and so on. All of these individuals likely have access to public records. All of them may have records on their personal devices from reading/access them away from the office. Nothing wrong with that.

However, upon their term ending, they are supposed to turn over all records in their possession to their successor. I would presume this law to mean that if a commissioner leaves office, all their records belong to the person taking their spot. That could be a weird exchange... "Here are 1000s of documents I had in my possession, have fun". I assume the state would be ok with the former elected official turning those documents over to the county.

The reason for this is anything considered public record is owned by the public. It does not belong to that official. Even if its a text message on their phone, it is a publicly owned document and required to be turned over. It allows the next person taking that spot to be up to date on what is going on.

Further, the 2nd part of the law states whoever is supposed to have custody of them after the official leaves is supposed to demand them from that person. They then have 10 days to produce the records in their possession or be in violation of public records laws. The law is direct and to the point. They "shall" demand them. It doesnt say a word like "can", "may" or some other word that gives the county an option to not to it. It says "shall". That means they must demand those records.

So focusing on commissioners...

If you recall my previous article about text messaging, Commissioners text about county business... A LOT. Every single one of those texts would likely need to be turned over upon them leaving office. As well as any other records they may have... things saved on their phones/computers, emails sent to personal email accounts, social media messages, and so on. Anything pertaining to their job as a commissioner would be fair game and required to be disclosed as public record.

Any guess as to how many have actually done it? Im going to assume the number is closer to zero than 1.

Well, I wanted to find out how many have actually turned over documents when they left office. I have done public records requests for just that. I asked if Jimmie Smith (2020), Brian Coleman (2020), Ron Kitchen (2022), Scott Carnahan (2022) and Ruthie Schlabach (2024) turned over any documents/records as they left their positions. All of them could have records that would still be considered as public record today, even 4 years after leaving office, particularly anything discussing policy, ordinances, etc, which have longer record keeping requirements.

I received an official response from records a week or so ago that stated that since the county is not the custodian of public records on other people's personal devices, it is up to the individuals to provide the records and follow records laws. I replied back that the custodian of the record "shall demand" from the person who has them for them to be turned over and asked if that has been done. I have not received a response to that and plan a follow-up.

Now why does this matter? What is the point in pushing for things from 5 years ago? Many of those things may still be in effect today. An ordinance for instance passed in 2020 could still be around. Developments certainly are coming online that were approved in early 2020s. Shouldnt the public be able to see what took place behind the scenes and what is taking place today behind the scenes?

Maybe there are no records to turn over since they were already turned over or they simply never existed... Great. Nothing to see. The goal for me has always been transparency in government. I want to make sure that our elected officials and other government employees are doing what they are supposed to be doing... and public records plays a HUGE part in that.

Every time I do a request, I hope there is nothing to see. But more often than not, I find surprises... and my role with this page is to make sure that the public is made aware of those things.

Have a great weekend!