It looks like Deerfield Beach has a twofold problem: The first fold is that the "office manager/comptroller" responding to emails for Housing Authority Chairman Keith Emery has no idea how to read a four-sentence request for simple public records.
The second is that they've been throwing those public records away.
MAOS blogger (and former DBHA commissioner) Chaz Stevens, doing his thang with the Sunshine Law requests, asked for the official emails of Emery and Commissioner Caryl Berner back in March. They're required to save them, because emails sent or received in an official capacity by public officials are public record.
Don't just take my word for it -- it's written on the DBHA website:
Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.
Not only do they understand the law; they understand how to get around it. However, Stevens posted late yesterday the chain of correspondence related to his request, which reveals that Emery, whom Stevens refers to in his official request as "Keith 'Blood Spurting From His Eyeball' Emery," doesn't care.
"We do not save DBHA emails for any length of time due to the influx of email our company receives," wrote Janis Wiley, from Emery's email address. "Mr. Emery deems it unnecessary to save meeting minutes, etc."
Ah, he's deemed it unnecessary. One can't help but wonder what the state attorney will deem when he receives the complaint Stevens filed about the whole mess. We will call the folks in question this morning to see what on Earth this could be about.
