Slew of right-to-know requests prompts hiring of records clerk

Officials swamped with requests

Monroeville plans to hire a part-time clerk/open records officer — in part because one person is inundating the municipality with Right-to-Know requests.

John Yakim of Monroeville has submitted about 500 Right-to-Know requests in the past four years or so, Monroeville manager Tim Little said.

The number of requests from Mr. Yakim, many of which are for copies of emails from administrators and council members, is part of the reason the part-time position has been added, Mr. Little said.

The administration has talked for years about adding a substitute secretary and decided to combine that job with the Right-to-Know position, he said. The position is budgeted at $15,000 per year.

Mr. Yakim said depending on the information he gathers, he often shares it on a political Facebook page he manages.

“The law gives citizens a mechanism to police their own government,” he said.

He added, “I think Monroeville is attempting to embarrass me and blame me for their own incompetence.

"It is no secret that I opposed all seven members of council and the mayor during their elections, and I supported most of their opponents.”

He said he did not know how many requests he has filed so far this year.

“I know I made two in May and four in April,” he said, adding he also filed one May 17.

Mr. Little said the number of requests Monroeville receives is “substantial” when compared with other municipalities. Neighboring borough Penn Hills, for example, averages 25 Right-toKnow requests a year, he said.

Last year, Monroeville received more than 200 requests, many of them from Mr. Yakim. Monroeville processed 164 in 2015 and 216 in 2016.

“I don’t think too many municipalities in the commonwealth have gone through the amount, per capita, that we have seen,” Mr. Little said.

Currently, Monroeville’s human resources director, Joe Sedlak, is the municipality’s Right-to-Know officer, and he spends a lot of time tending to the requests, Mr. Little said.

He added that Mr. Sedlak currently is working on a request, which is not from Mr. Yakim, in which he has to go through two large accordion file folders of emails and documents to redact any personal information they may contain.

“This is a typical task” that’s quite time-consuming, Mr. Little said.

He acknowledged that Mr. Yakim and anyone else “has the right under the law to file” the requests.

Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania News Media Association, said the general assembly considered the issue of municipalities receiving numerous Right-to-Know requests when it enacted the law.

She said the law contains a provision allowing agencies to deny burdensome requests.

“Imposing a general time limit on requests is not in the public interest because it creates significant barriers to access and accountability without cause,” Ms. Melewsky said. “The primary goal of the Right-to-Know Law is to promote public access and encourage citizens to hold public officials accountable because government functions best when it is overseen by an informed citizenry.”

Ms. Melewsky added that Monroeville’s experience of receiving so many requests is exceedingly rare.

She said a report by the state Legislative Budget and Finance Committee showed the vast majority of agencies receive relatively few Rightto-Know requests and spend small amounts of time and resources addressing them.

Mr. Little said he believes certain items within the Right-to-Know Law need to be tweaked and that parts of it are “cumbersome” on municipalities.

“It’s not about not being transparent,” he said. “We want to comply with the law.”