My experience with Maple Heights government in trying to get public information, as well as public records, is not good. [see Aug 20th post] + [see Req. page].
UPDATE 2/6:
This is in response to a comment made on 2/3/2013
[I want you to look at the request pages and tell me if you think that Maple Heights public employees are cooperating. They know I actually look at where the money goes, and to whom it goes; and I actually research and compare data, and ask questions that council won't ask, or won't research, or make comparisons with other cities (wages, cost of benefits, staffing, expenditures, construction projects, sources of funding, race and discrimination). And I don't believe everything that people tell me, because there are public employees (especially politicians, and political appointees) in this world who lie, may alter documents, or violate federal, state and local laws and requirements, etc.; and I don't trust any politician or other public employee who refuses to be accountable. [This comment I won't retract]
If you receive a document/record from a Maple Heights public employee or the city of Maple Heights, it should be (in my opinion) signed by a Maple Heights public employee, or have a city of Maple Heights official stamp or seal, or city of Maple Hts official label (that can't be easily removed), or be on city of Maple Heights stationery. Otherwise (in my opinion) the document/record means next to nothing, because you can't hold anyone accountable for its accuracy, or even that the document/record is authentic regardless if it came in a city of Maple Heights envelope.
There also are public employees (esp. in leadership roles) who will try to make you think everything is fine and dandy. Maple Heights leadership it appears, won't reveal that there are far too many vacant homes in Maple Heights, or that there were over 550 home foreclosure filings in Maple Heights in 2012. It appears they won't talk about the number of people still losing their homes or about to lose their homes, or while some (too many for me) of Maple Heights employees (when you add in benefits) make over $100,000 a year, there are many Maple Heights residents who are just trying to get by, or have lost their jobs.
Mr. Montello, the law director, said he couldn't find any affirmative action agreements entered into by the city of Maple Heights (even though I gave him a hint), but I found them and one of the chief negotiators for those agreements. According to a Plain Dealer article, Mr. Montello can charge $95 an hour for research. So I want to know how many hours he spent looking for those agreements, and how much did he bill us (his employers). I believe it is a public record. (Received 2/10/2013 in my mail slot, letter dated 2/4/2013) Mr. Melling claims otherwise. See his response on the request page.
Mr. Blair Melling, Maple Heights assistant law director, etc. says I can't ask for W-2s, however, I called the Ohio Attorney General's office and they referenced Appendix C:
Update 2/10/2013 - letter placed in my mail slot on Sunday, 2/10/2013, dated February 4, 2013:
Mr. Melling has since responded see letter in request section at the very bottom of that page. & then read my response
I also understand that a great many people are frightened to speak up or ask questions, or dig deeper, because there are some public employees who will retaliate, or try to intimidate, or make you feel like you're a nobody (even though you are their employer).
Do ask for tapes of last year and 2011 council meetings. You'll hear how some public employees talk to the people who pay their salaries. It's been alleged that the mayor once called the employer of a Maple Heights taxpayer (his employer) to complain that she was asking too many questions (I think the words used "harassing" public employees.) The taxpayer wanted a public meeting to discuss the city's finances. These public employees in my opinion, don't like for you to complain, or request, or ask certain questions. Speak up anyway, but better still, create an independent civilian review board. ]
VERY IMPORTANT:
PLEASE call the CALL AND POST, AND the NAACP (we'll let them know THAT I TOLD YOU TO CALL THEM) IF YOU FEEL HARASSED, INTIMIDATED, OR THREATENED IN ANY WAY BY ANY PUBLIC EMPLOYEE (ESP. A POLITICIAN IN A POSITION OF POWER)
PLEASE READ MY UPDATE dated 2/21/2013 HERE
There should be a real and sincere effort made by Maple Heights public employees (or any public employee) to view the people who pay their salaries, as their employers (which indeed they are), and to really understand what it means to be accountable, to then be accountable, and to wholeheartedly embrace an "open government".
UPDATE 2/6:
This is in response to a comment made on 2/3/2013
[I want you to look at the request pages and tell me if you think that Maple Heights public employees are cooperating. They know I actually look at where the money goes, and to whom it goes; and I actually research and compare data, and ask questions that council won't ask, or won't research, or make comparisons with other cities (wages, cost of benefits, staffing, expenditures, construction projects, sources of funding, race and discrimination). And I don't believe everything that people tell me, because there are public employees (especially politicians, and political appointees) in this world who lie, may alter documents, or violate federal, state and local laws and requirements, etc.; and I don't trust any politician or other public employee who refuses to be accountable. [This comment I won't retract]
If you receive a document/record from a Maple Heights public employee or the city of Maple Heights, it should be (in my opinion) signed by a Maple Heights public employee, or have a city of Maple Heights official stamp or seal, or city of Maple Hts official label (that can't be easily removed), or be on city of Maple Heights stationery. Otherwise (in my opinion) the document/record means next to nothing, because you can't hold anyone accountable for its accuracy, or even that the document/record is authentic regardless if it came in a city of Maple Heights envelope.
There also are public employees (esp. in leadership roles) who will try to make you think everything is fine and dandy. Maple Heights leadership it appears, won't reveal that there are far too many vacant homes in Maple Heights, or that there were over 550 home foreclosure filings in Maple Heights in 2012. It appears they won't talk about the number of people still losing their homes or about to lose their homes, or while some (too many for me) of Maple Heights employees (when you add in benefits) make over $100,000 a year, there are many Maple Heights residents who are just trying to get by, or have lost their jobs.
Mr. Montello, the law director, said he couldn't find any affirmative action agreements entered into by the city of Maple Heights (even though I gave him a hint), but I found them and one of the chief negotiators for those agreements. According to a Plain Dealer article, Mr. Montello can charge $95 an hour for research. So I want to know how many hours he spent looking for those agreements, and how much did he bill us (his employers). I believe it is a public record. (Received 2/10/2013 in my mail slot, letter dated 2/4/2013) Mr. Melling claims otherwise. See his response on the request page.
Mr. Blair Melling, Maple Heights assistant law director, etc. says I can't ask for W-2s, however, I called the Ohio Attorney General's office and they referenced Appendix C:
Appendix C 1992-005: A copy of a federal tax form W-2 prepared and maintained by a township as an employer is subject to inspection as a public record. [Ohio
Attorney General Opinions Interpreting Ohio's Public Records Act]
&
Today I came across another reference:
2007, State of Ohio, Office of the Attorney General - OPINION NO. 2007-026, see page 4
FOR ME, W2's ARE A RELIABLE WAY TO VERIFY THE WAGES OF A PUBLIC EMPLOYEE. ANYTHING WRITTEN ON A PLAIN PIECE OF PAPER IS ALWAYS SUSPECT.
&
Today I came across another reference:
2007, State of Ohio, Office of the Attorney General - OPINION NO. 2007-026, see page 4
FOR ME, W2's ARE A RELIABLE WAY TO VERIFY THE WAGES OF A PUBLIC EMPLOYEE. ANYTHING WRITTEN ON A PLAIN PIECE OF PAPER IS ALWAYS SUSPECT.
Update 2/10/2013 - letter placed in my mail slot on Sunday, 2/10/2013, dated February 4, 2013:
Mr. Melling has since responded see letter in request section at the very bottom of that page. & then read my response
I also understand that a great many people are frightened to speak up or ask questions, or dig deeper, because there are some public employees who will retaliate, or try to intimidate, or make you feel like you're a nobody (even though you are their employer).
Do ask for tapes of last year and 2011 council meetings. You'll hear how some public employees talk to the people who pay their salaries. It's been alleged that the mayor once called the employer of a Maple Heights taxpayer (his employer) to complain that she was asking too many questions (I think the words used "harassing" public employees.) The taxpayer wanted a public meeting to discuss the city's finances. These public employees in my opinion, don't like for you to complain, or request, or ask certain questions. Speak up anyway, but better still, create an independent civilian review board. ]
VERY IMPORTANT:
PLEASE call the CALL AND POST, AND the NAACP (we'll let them know THAT I TOLD YOU TO CALL THEM) IF YOU FEEL HARASSED, INTIMIDATED, OR THREATENED IN ANY WAY BY ANY PUBLIC EMPLOYEE (ESP. A POLITICIAN IN A POSITION OF POWER)
PLEASE READ MY UPDATE dated 2/21/2013 HERE
There should be a real and sincere effort made by Maple Heights public employees (or any public employee) to view the people who pay their salaries, as their employers (which indeed they are), and to really understand what it means to be accountable, to then be accountable, and to wholeheartedly embrace an "open government".
Do you know any employer who would keep an employee who could not, or would not give the employer what he/she asked for (which they should have the answers to, or know where to obtain those answers); or could not or would not answer questions about or related to his job?
Do you know any employer who would keep an employee who is not respectful, or accountable for his/her actions, activities, monies they were responsible for, or had numerous complaints, or did not understand what their role in the organization was, or didn't have the right skill set, or knowledge and experience necessary to perform their job, or their job performance was less than adequate?
Unfortunately, (in my opinion) some of Maple Heights public employees (esp. some of those in leadership roles), don't grasp that they are indeed employees, are accountable, must answer questions (relative to their job) from their employers, and must act as if they were an employee of a private company.
So, due to this lack of transparency, and what I stated at the beginning of this post, and a lack of some public employees being accountable to the people who pay their salaries (again, my opinion), I recommend that an Independent Civilian Review Board or Independent Board of Accountability be created. I say independent because why would you let people who feel that they are not accountable, or refuse to answer questions, (or oversee public employees who they've allowed to not answer questions), choose members of the board. That's insane.
Therefore, how would one go about choosing members of the board? My suggestion is by vote. Each district would vote for two people to serve on the board for two years. Don't allow any politician to corrupt the process by trying to put their people in the mix.
If a resident (employer) had a problem with a public employee, or were having problems obtaining public information, or had some other complaint, or needed other various kinds of assistance, they could go to the board. If the board felt that a public employee was not being honest, was seriously violating the public trust, was not being accountable, and especially was unwilling to work with the board to resolve issues, they would publicly censure the employee, or request the resignation of the employee (after a certain # of complaints, etc.) or seek their recall (if the public employee was a politician).
One more thing .. All public employees (that includes politicians) should be required to attend a "sensitivity training" class.
E.S
[To be further edited]
RELATED:If a resident (employer) had a problem with a public employee, or were having problems obtaining public information, or had some other complaint, or needed other various kinds of assistance, they could go to the board. If the board felt that a public employee was not being honest, was seriously violating the public trust, was not being accountable, and especially was unwilling to work with the board to resolve issues, they would publicly censure the employee, or request the resignation of the employee (after a certain # of complaints, etc.) or seek their recall (if the public employee was a politician).
One more thing .. All public employees (that includes politicians) should be required to attend a "sensitivity training" class.
E.S
[To be further edited]
I changed the name of a post regarding Blair Melling because I received a letter stating Mr. Melling was not an employee. When I looked at the February 4th letter again, and checked the 1/29/2013 email I sent to Ms. Unger, I noticed I wrote incorrectly "Brian Melling", which prompted the author of the February 4, 2013 letter to state that they had no employee named Brian Melling: however, on 12/18/2012 I did make a similar request, and in that email, I spelled the name correctly.
REQUESTS FOR MAPLE HEIGHTS GOVERNMENT PUBLIC RECORDS, AND PUBLIC INFORMATION
URBAN AFFAIRS AND PLANNING
