(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
This story was originally published by Iowa Capital Dispatch and is unaltered.
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Public information board dismisses complaint against workforce agency [1]
['Clark Kauffman', 'More From Author', '- May']
Date: 2023-05-18
The Iowa Public Information Board dismissed on Thursday a complaint that Iowa Workforce Development violated the law by failing to respond to a request for documents.
The Iowa Capital Dispatch filed the complaint against IWD after the agency didn’t respond to a Feb. 22 request for documents about the preservation of any records maintained by the agency’s director, Beth Townsend. The agency also neglected to respond to three subsequent inquiries about whether the agency was working on the request.
The dispute between IWD and the Capital Dispatch dates back to Feb. 9, when the news organization, after collecting information from IWD about unemployment fraud, asked to speak to someone at the agency about the issue. As in the past, the agency declined to make anyone available for an interview but agreed to answer questions in writing.
In response, the Capital Dispatch asked for all of the agency’s written communications, including text messages and emails, over the previous two weeks that dealt with the news organization’s requests for information on fraud – including any messages sent to, or sent by, Townsend.
The Capital Dispatch also asked IWD to immediately take steps to preserve any relevant texts on Townsend’s phone, and to take steps to have her phone-service provider preserve the messages. The news organization also asked IWD to indicate when those steps were taken.
IWD later offered to give an undefined number of records to the Capital Dispatch in return for a fee, estimated at $40 to $60. The agency said it had notified Townsend of the request for documents and that she had searched her own phone for any relevant texts and found none.
On Feb. 22, the Capital Dispatch asked IWD for a copy of the notification sent to Townsend, along with her response. IWD never responded to that request or asserted any claim of confidentiality. It also didn’t respond to three follow-up inquiries asking about the status of the request.
The Capital Dispatch then filed a complaint with the Iowa Public Information Board, citing the lack of response.
In response to that complaint, IWD argued it wasn’t clear to the agency that the Feb. 22 request was any different from the earlier, broader request made on Feb. 9.
At Thursday’s IPIB meeting, IWD attorney Rebecca Stonawski said the agency didn’t consider the Feb. 22 request that was mailed to her – which stated, “Could you send me a copy of the notification to Director Townsend, along with her response?” – to be a new public-records request that required a response.
She indicated there is one document that’s relevant to the request that is either confidential attorney work product or subject to attorney-client privilege. In addition, she said, there is one document that can be made public.
The Iowa Public Information Board then voted unanimously to dismiss the Capital Dispatch’s complaint with the understanding that IWD will either turn over the public document or offer to disclose it in return for a fee.
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[1] Url:
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/05/18/public-information-board-dismisses-complaint-against-workforce-agency/
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