Public Health has a lot going on under one roof. “We put together two of the United Health Care cubicles to create one - giving our people much more room,” York explained as an example, “and did it using the dividers they didn’t take with them.” In the renovation and remodeling project, health officials saved taxpayers a pile of money by using materials UHC left behind when all of their attendants started working remotely. 20th Street, in the former United Health Care call center. Public Health officials showed off their new place at 2080 E.

The legislative committee’s media representative, Joel McCrea, did not attend the meeting.CHICO - “Public Health is so much more than many people think it is,” Danette York of Butte County Public Health explained to the group attending Wednesday morning’s open house.Īnd, with a new and incredibly spacious 29,107-square-foot facility in southeast Chico, offering a wide range of services to the public is easier than ever for the county’s health department. Giovannetti of Urbandale and government representative Barry Lindahl of Dubuque - discussed the “vexatious requester” proposal during Friday’s meeting. The nine-member Iowa Public Information Board is comprised of nine members, which must include three members each representing government, the media and the public.Įckley and two members of the board’s three-person legislative committee - public representative E.J. Iowa Freedom of Information Council Letter 9-15-23 by Gazetteonline on Scribd “The Iowa FOI Council is concerned this legislation would empower government to block requests for documents from individual requesters or their organizations based on ‘the nature, content, language or subject matter of the requests.’” “What a government employee believes is a vexatious person or that the IPIB adjudicates as such may in fact involve someone others see as persistent, especially if they have a common interest in the same records and information,” Evans wrote in the letter to the state board. He wrote that the proposed legislation would run counter to the law by excluding individuals from exercising their right to public records. Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a government transparency advocacy group, submitted a letter to the state board expressing concern for how the proposal would “seriously erode” the state’s open records law. Add your contacts.ĭuring Friday’s legislative committee hearing, the members fielded questions from two members of the state media: Clark Kauffman of Iowa Capital Dispatch and Laura Belin of the liberal political news site Bleeding Heartland. You will begin to receive our Daily On Iowa Politics updates. The board’s decision would be final, and could be appealed only through the courts. If the board would vote to grant the petition, it could allow the government agency to reject the individual’s open records requests for up to one year. If a hearing is held, the state board would then vote on the petition. The board then could deny the government agency’s petition, or determine the petition could have merit and schedule a hearing to allow the alleged “vexatious requester” an opportunity to respond. It would consider multiple factors, including the number and scope of requests the nature, content language or subject matter of communications to the government agency or conduct that the government agency believes creates an “unreasonable burden” or is intended to harass the agency. The Public Information Board then would determine the veracity of the agency’s petition. Iowa Public Information Board Proposal 9-15-23 by Gazetteonline on Scribd

Under the proposed legislation, which the board would provide to state lawmakers for their consideration, a governmental body in Iowa - like a city, county or school board, for example - could petition the board for relief from an individual who the government agency deems to be a “vexatious requester.” Eckley said she proposed the legislation because of concerns raised by local government officials who have complained of excessive open records requests that Eckley described as “abusive and harassing” in nature.

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