County seeks employee to help with FOIA requests

County Judge Darryl Mahoney asked justices of the peace Monday for a full-time employee dedicated to processing public records requests.

Almost 400 have been made through the county’s online portal since it went live in April. Mahoney said he expects 600 by the end of the year.

“There’s no way (County Attorney John Howard) and his staff can keep up with it any longer,” Mahoney told the Garland County Quorum Court Human Resources Committee. “We’re going to have to have a full-time employee to take care of that.”

The committee advanced Mahoney’s request to create a public relations director/Freedom of Information Act specialist. The county said the job’s rating merited a $45,497 salary, the minimum level for the rating assigned by the compensation management system the county uses to set salaries.

Funding for the position in next year’s budget depends on the approval of the Finance Committee and full quorum court.

Mahoney said sheriff’s deputies’ bodycam recordings, arrest and court records and 911 calls account for a large percentage of the requests. Many of the responsive materials include personal information the county has to redact.

“You may spend five or six hours redacting certain items,” he told the committee.

The quorum court appropriated $10,000 last year to outsource the processing of records requests after the county told JPs it received more than 200 in 2020 and 2021, some of which included thousands of pages of responsive materials. Mahoney said the volume of requests has increased since the introduction of the online portal.

“Some of them are frivolous, but we have to answer them all,” he told

JPs Monday. “It’s a mandated operation we have to do, but it’s good for transparency.”

Job duties include public/ media relations.

“We thought we’d integrate into this a public information officer for the county,” Mahoney told JPs. “When we’re having something closed or an event happening, we can push that out through that individual on social media. We could also have them encourage the public to sign up for our notification system.”

The Mahoney Building

The Environmental Services, Public Works and Buildings Committee advanced a resolution earlier this month requesting an attorney general’s opinion on the naming of the quorum court’s new meeting space.

JPs unanimously adopted the resolution County Attorney John Howard proposed in May to name the old Hot Springs National Guard Armory in honor of Mahoney. The county used $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to renovate the Art Deco-style building that had been vacant since the Hot Springs Senior Center left in 2018. The quorum court held its first meeting in The Mahoney Building in July.

Citing state law that prohibits buildings paid for by public funds from being named for people who held elected office in the 10 years preceding the completion of the building, JP Dayton Myers, R-District 7, asked for the legal opinion at the Sept. 11 quorum court meeting.

Howard told JPs the building falls under an exemption that excludes buildings of historical significance. Myers asked if the exemption applied to buildings or people for whom they are named.

“The way I read it, the building or structure or facility has to have historical significance to the individual that the building is being named after,” Myers said at the Sept. 18 committee meeting. “John reads it as any type of building that has historical significance.”

A member of the county’s legislative delegation will be asked to solicit the opinion if the full quorum court adopts the resolution next month. State law requires the attorney general to provide opinions when requested by officials elected to state office and the General Assembly, heads of executive departments, prosecuting attorneys and county election boards.

Acoustics

Mahoney told JPs Monday a local bank will donate $15,000 for acoustic improvements at The Mahoney Building.

JPs and the public have complained about not being able to hear in the new meeting space. Mahoney said a formal announcement will be made after Taylor Kempkes Architects is consulted. He hired the local firm to oversee the Armory remodel.

“We’ll announce that after they get everything put together,” he said.

Picnic

The county will hold its seventh annual employee and family appreciation picnic Saturday at 11 a.m. at Cedar Glades Park. The county said sponsorships and donations pay for all the expenses. This year’s theme is 1980s dance party.