Thursday, March 26, 2015

Georgia Department Of Transportation Told Oconee County Representative To Pay $100,000 In Advance For Documents

Open Records Request

The Georgia Department of Transportation has told Rep. Regina Quick that it will respond to her open records request for documents about the operation of the department, but only if she pays more than $100,000 in advance.

Matthew Cline, general counsel to GDOT, said Quick’s 51-item request, submitted on March 17, would take up to six months to complete, and the Department would not start work until she paid the search and copying costs, as allowed by the state's open records law.

Quick
Official House Picture

The first item on Quick’s list related to a request by Oconee County for funds to construct a right turn lane off SR 316 at U.S. 78 coming from Athens to accommodate Caterpillar. Quick represents three precincts of Oconee County, including the Bogart precinct where Caterpillar is located.

Quick modified and limited her request in an email message to Cline this afternoon, indicating that she will deliver a check tomorrow to cover the costs for the shortened list of items sought.

No Documents Yet

Quick told me in an email message this morning that so far she has not received any documents.

She also sent me a copy of an email message she had sent on Monday to Jamie Boswell, district representative to the Georgia Department of Transportation, asking him for assistance in obtaining the documents for her.

Boswell made a reference to Quick’s request of him during an interview I did with him on Monday.

Quick had sent me on Sunday (March 22) a copy of her open records request submitted to Russell McMurry, director of GDOT. I did not mention that to Boswell.

Nature Of Request

Quick’s 51-item open records request asked for details of “motor fuel funds” received by GDOT in 2015, standards used to classify bridges as structurally deficient, and the amount of federal motor fuel taxes paid by Georgia citizens in 2014.

She also asked for a variety of emails and memos between GDOT personnel and House and Senate members and staff.

Quick wanted documents on the use of motor fuel funds to pay debt services.

And she wanted detailed costs for the access for the proposed Cobb Braves stadium project.

Quick has been a critic of GDOT, and she voted against House Bill 170, which will, if passed, increase motor fuel taxes in the state. That bill is now in a House and Senate conference committee.

Caterpillar Exit

In her open records request, Quick said she wanted documents related to Project No. M004668 in Oconee County. That was a project to widen U.S. 441 at High Shoals Road in the south of the county.

When I questioned her about that via email, she said that she was interested in “an Oconee County Caterpillar related request” to the GDOT Quick Response Program.

Quick has not responded to my requests for an explanation of her interest in that project, but it remains on her shortened list of documents she is seeking from GDOT.

Emil Beshara, county Public Works director, told me on Tuesday that the county had sought Quick Response funding for the project but had been told GDOT has no more money available in that fund.

Beshara said funding is now being requested as an “intersection improvement project.”

2 comments:

Xardox said...

Wheeling and dealing, then hiding behind a thinly-disguised extortion. Very interesting.

Anonymous said...

Glad Ms. Quick is on the job. Lots of government actions should be looked at closely! I believe she will do it, if she can get a little cooperation.