PITTSBORO - Chatham County's new attorney has written a policy on releasing documents he says is meant to "supplement" the state's public records law.

Two media law experts say parts of it would break the law.

Kevin Whiteheart said the county commissioners asked him to unify the document release process so the county can get records out faster. Whiteheart also said the county has several volunteer boards, and he wanted to write a policy they could use to handle records requests.

The commissioners, including three who ran last year on an open-government platform, are taking comments on the seven-page policy through Monday.

Commissioner George Lucier hasn't reviewed the policy in detail but said the county's goal is to release as much information as possible as fast as it can.

But two experts say the state public records law already spells out how documents should be released.

"It's not up to local governments to supplement the law," said John Bussian, a Raleigh lawyer and lobbyist for the N.C. Press Association. "The obligation of local boards to release public documents is set forth in chapter and verse in the state law."

"Most local governments don't have a separate policy. They have the law," said Cathy Packer, a media law professor at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Under the section "creating or compiling records," Whiteheart wrote, "If a party requests minutes to be placed in a certain format or combined with other records, then the party should be informed that no record exists."

That's not the law, Bussian said.

The county does not have to create records in formats it doesn't have, Bussian agreed. But that "doesn't mean it's OK to say, 'We don't have anything,' " he said.

Minutes

Bussian and Packer also questioned the policy's wording on releasing closed-session minutes.

Whiteheart says that after a closed session, the board should vote on when to release the minutes and that, before releasing them, the minutes must be typed so the board can review and approve them.

"That's wrong," Packer said.

State law says closed-session minutes become public records as soon as the reason for closing the meeting has passed, such as when a policy is adopted.

In addition, the state Supreme Court has said draft documents are public records.

"[Minutes] don't have to be approved by the board to be released," Packer said. "If they happen to be in chicken scratch handwriting, they should release the chicken scratch handwriting."

Chatham County records its closed sessions and can release CD recordings.

In response to Packer and Bussian's comments, Whiteheart said he would review the law on draft documents and change the policy if needed. He also said he could amend the policy based on public comments.

"If something makes sense to add, then we'll add it," he said.

The policy is not meant to contradict state law, he said. He expects the commissioners to vote on it next month.

Not common

Whiteheart said he based his policy on information from UNC-Chapel Hill's Institute of Government and the town of Cary's public records policy.

In its policy, Cary states it does not have to change the format of its documents. "If there is no record that meets the record request, simply respond that there is no record," the policy says.

Officials, however, in Wake, Durham, Orange and Johnston counties said they don't have separate public document policies.

"When we receive a public document request, we rely on the state law," said Geof Gledhill, Orange County attorney.

Fleming Bell, with the UNC School of Government, said if a municipality has a separate policy, it typically deals with administrative issues.

"My impression is that a lot of places have general guidelines about prices and explain that they want you to come in and put something in writing," he said. "Not many would call it a supplement to the law."

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