Robbinsville – Machelle Crisp contends that her public records requests should be no more than “the click of a button.”
County attorney J.K. Coward says that Crisp’s requests would take several, full work days to complete.
The end result has been a stalemate of sorts, with recent Graham County Board of Commissioners meetings including Crisp speaking during public comment and questioning the status of her requests, which she submitted in May. Crisp previously worked in the county finance department for 17 years and is running as a Democrat for a commissioner seat in November.
Crisp recounted her previous trips to the podium at Sept. 17’s meeting, noting that commissioner Connie Orr “assured” Crisp that she would receive her requested documents, which are the expenditures and revenues for the county during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 fiscal years. She added a request for a copy of the county’s check register from August on Sept. 16.
However, Crisp said Sept. 17 that she had only received ¼ of what she requested some four months ago. North Carolina General Statute 132 pertains to public records requests, but does not define a specific time period for requests to be fulfilled.
“Everything that I’ve requested falls under the general statute,” Crisp said.
Crisp handed each commissioner a two-page handout from the North Carolina Department of Justice’s website, which included a mention that a civil lawsuit can be levied if anyone is “denied access to inspect, examine or copy public records.”
The mandate also dictates that civil suits regarding public records leapfrog to the front of the line on court dockets, per N.C. G.S. 132-9.
“I don’t want to have to do that,” Crisp said about filing a lawsuit.
Coward told Crisp that the county is working to get everything together “as soon as we can,” explaining that he has collaborated with interim county manager Kim Crisp to produce what Crisp has received so far.
“It would probably take both of us working 3-4 straight, 8-hour days to get everything together,” Coward said.
“No Jay, I beg to differ with you,” Crisp responded.
“You don’t just snatch files out of a pile and hand them over,” Coward continued. “You have to analyze them and respect confidentiality.”
Any request must go through the vetting process Coward mentioned, to ensure confidential items remain private. This normally includes employee personnel files, but the law only dictates that confidential portions be redacted – not an entire document.
“I know what’s confidential, what can be released and what cannot be released,” said Crisp. “Everything I requested can be released.”
TEFAP
During the workshop that preceded the meeting itself, Michelle Shiplet and Misty Shope with Five Point Center spoke to the board about collaborating to combat the high cost of living in Graham County.
After their presentation, the commissioners seemed more than convinced.
Shope provided some startling figures about the food distribution program at the center, which is federally funded:
* As part of The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), the center provides 1,200 boxed meals a month. This feeds roughly 207 homes and 509 individuals;
* The center has spent $16,900 to cover utility bills for individuals – as well as $37,378 on auto repairs – since July;
* Weekday trips to Walmart in Murphy are commonplace to keep the pantry stocked at the center. Shope estimated that $8,300 a week is spent on groceries.
The most telling part of the presentation was Shope pointing out that all the money spent on food by the center is distributed outside the county, due to the higher cost of doing business in Graham.
For example, Shope cited that the same amount of groceries at Ingles in Robbinsville would be 25-35 percent higher.
Shope estimated that the yearly total spent by the center on food picked up in Cherokee County to be served locally is $431,000.
“That breaks my heart,” Shope said. “We’re not asking you to provide that, but we’re saying we have that buying power that could be spent in our community.”
Shope pointed out that due to only having one local grocery store, Graham County is considered a “food desert,” since its residents do not have sufficient access to enough healthy foods.
* Next week: Questions raised about planned sidewalk in Stecoah and funding for Valley River Humane Society.