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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-05-2014 Questions about Staff Confidentiality Eligibility, Lien Satisfactions, & A Final Code Enforcement JudgementSean Beaudet From: Kate Latorre [klatorre@orlandolaw.net] Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2014 1:33 PM To: Sean Beaudet Cc: _City Clerk Department Subject: RE: Questions about Staff Confidentiality Eligibility, Lien Satisfactions, & A Final Code Enforcement Judgment Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged Sean, please find my responses to each of your questions below: Public Records Exemption for City Finance Personnel: As you note, there is a statutory public records exemption for the personal identifying information of local government personnel "whose responsibilities include revenue collection and enforcement." ' 119.071(4)(d)2.a.(I), Fla. Stat. (2013). This same exemption also expressly applies to personnel of the Department of Revenue. Unfortunately, there is not an abundance of legal authority interpreting this specific exemption; however, the Florida Attorney General has opined on the application of this exemption in AGO 96-57. In this Opinion, the AG was asked whether the exemption applies to personnel of local governments whose responsibilities include revenue collection or enforcement, or whether it applied only to personnel of local governments whose responsibilities include revenue collection and enforcement. Looking to the plain language of the statue, the AG opined that the exemption only applies to those local government personnel whose duties include revenue collection and enforcement. The AG also noted that the legislative history surrounding this exemption provided an exemption in a similar legislative bill "for the Department of Revenue personnel whose responsibilities required personal contact with the public for purposes relating to tax administration." This detail may shed some light on the Legislature's intent with regard to the application of this exemption, but is not exactly determinative of the issue. Keep in mind that generally, the Public Records Law is to be liberally construed in favor of open government. Exemptions from disclosure are to be narrowly construed and shall be no broader than necessary to accomplish the stated purpose of the law. Thus, if the City were to claim an exemption under this provision, it would bear the burden of proving the right to the exemption. Also, with regard to this specific exemption, it is important to consider its stated purpose. In enacting this exemption, it was stated that the exemption was a public necessity because release of the personal identifying information would jeopardize the safety and welfare of the local government personnel whose responsibilities include revenue collection and enforcement and would impede such departmental and local government personnel in carrying out their official duties. The release of the information would not benefit the public in any way or aid it in monitoring the effective or efficient operation of government. It was concluded that the harm that would result from the release of this information outweighed any public benefit that might result therefrom. Section 2, Ch. 95-170, Laws of Florida (1995). Given the general principals of the Public Records Laws discussed above and the limited legal authority available, I recommend that any application of this exemption to City personnel be strictly limited to those individuals whose duties include the collection of revenue and enforcement. Analyze any assertion of this exemption carefully before responding to a public records request. Is the employee tasked with the collection of revenue and enforcement? Does the employee have personal contact with the public related to said collection and enforcement? Could release of the employee's information impede them from carrying out their official duties? As you can see, whether application of this exemption to City finance personnel is justified will depend on what an individual's specific job duties and responsibilities entail. Some finance employees may fall under the exemption and some may not. Retention of Lien -Related Documents I don't believe you have to scan in every single document subject to retention. If the lien documents are being retained as hard copies consistent with the applicable retention schedule and the City opts not to scan them all in, the City is still in compliance with the retention requirements. Payment of County Court Judgment Once a civil citation is issued and heard before the County Court, payment of any judgment entered by the Court should be to the Court, not to the City. I believe, in theory, that the County Court is supposed to distribute any funds due to the City upon payment of the judgment. The title company should direct their payment to the County Court and reference the case number included on the judgment. I hope this information proves helpful. Please let me know if I can assist further. Kate From: Sean Beaudet[mailto:sbeaudet@winterspringsfl.org] Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 1:44 PM To: Kate Latorre Cc: _City Clerk Department Subject: Questions about Staff Confidentiality Eligibility, Lien Satisfactions, & A Final Code Enforcement Judgment Hi Kate, So as you can see, we have gathered a few questions. I bundled them together, rather than sending separate emails. Hope you don't mind: 1.) Are the personnel in our Finance Department exempt from Public Records requests? Human Resource personnel are specifically referenced in the Statute. However, we came across a categorization in-house that included personnel whose "duties include revenue collection". However, I think this may apply to county Tax Collectors. Not sure... 2.) According to the state retention schedule, any documents relating to liens are to be kept for 5 Fiscal Years after a lien has been satisfied. Right now, we are keeping/scanning all of the satisfactions and supporting documents into Laserfiche, which is taking up quite a bit of space. Is this really necessary, as we still have the paper copies? It would only be for reference and at the end of the day, title search companies are only looking for outstanding liens, not ones that are satisfied. 3.) Lastly, how would we know if the attached fees have been paid by the defendant? Or is this out of our jurisdiction and handled by the courts? We had a title company send a check to pay of the amount. Iris and I were a little confused on this one. Thank you as always for your wonderful assistance, Sean Beaudet Assistant to the City Clerk City of Winter Springs 1126 East State Road 434 Winter Springs, FL 32708 (407) 327-6560 Direct Line (407) 327-1800 Ext. 253 Main Line (407) 327-4753 Fax sbeaudet(a,wintersprin sfl.ora Confidentiality Note: This e-mail, and any attachment to it, contains information intended only for the use of the Individual(s) or entity named on the e-mail. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that reading it is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately return it to the sender and delete it from your system. Thank you.