After receiving much criticism for not doing a decent job at disclosing public records, the city of Puyallup is not sitting idle.
In fact, Mayor Don Malloy wants the city to take a step further in making sure the city government is open with their records, gives its residents the time and place to express concerns and radiates an appearance of fairness.
“How can they (residents) have a voice if they don’t know what’s going on,” Malloy said. “To me it’s a fundamental issue in democracy.”
To ensure public disclosure of records, the city has put in place more training for employees about public disclosure and additional logging of requests and given staff more authority to review and respond to simple requests, said City Manager Gary McLean.
“We’re focused on responding to these requests,” he said. “It is a priority. Staff knows that. They make it a priority each day.”
Improving how the city provides information is always a goal, McLean said.
“Information is power,” Malloy said. “And people get the power from the information they have.”
By using a log of when a request is made and what department is responsible for providing the information, the city has a better chance of streamlining the disclosure of information, McLean said.
Department directors are aware of the logs and have been instructed to make sure requests are moving forward as quickly as possible, McLean said.
The city is also working to gain the trust of people who have had a difficult time gaining information in the past, Malloy said.
“There are always people who will be doubtful of what government is doing,” Malloy said. “I hope that people appreciate the efforts that this council is making to make sure the public is informed.”
Malloy said he recognized people were displeased with getting the response of the city in providing public records. Transparency in government is something he has stressed since becoming mayor three months ago.
Public Disclosure audits done by The News Tribune and The Herald over the past few years shows there’s a problem, he said.
Disclosing records is only part of the equation, Malloy said. Giving residents the opportunity to voice their concerns in public meetings is also very important.
In the past, public comment has not been received at all city council study sessions. That won’t be the case anymore, Malloy said.
Residents will have the opportunity to speak about the study session topic after the meetings, he said.
And meetings need to be scheduled at times and places that are easily accessible, Malloy said. There needs to be an openness and fairness to government, he added.
“I feel that what we have accomplished in the first three months of this year really clearly demonstrates our commitment to openness,” Malloy said. “I think it’s going to take awhile for us to demonstrate that to the public.
“We have to demonstrate to the public that we are committed to openness and that’s what I want to do.”
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