Township manager says she needs more help to meet deadlines under new law.

By Christopher Baxter
OF THE MORNING CALL

The mountain of trash at the Chrin Bros. Sanitary Landfill and other contentious issues in Williams Township have spurred the growth of another mountain -- one of open record requests.

Since the state's new Right to Know Law took effect at the beginning of the year, Williams officials have fielded 73 requests and made more than 2,200 copies, said Township Manager Deborah Patterson.

Patterson said with a limited administrative staff -- a full-time secretary, part-time secretary and receptionist -- the requested documents and information cannot be provided within the five-day time frame.

''If that was all we had to do, that is one thing,'' Patterson said, ''but we have deadlines for other work as well, and that sometimes takes precedent.''

It took Williams six business days (and a reminder) to respond to a recent request by The Morning Call. The response letter from the township, sent by e-mail, requested a 30-day extension because of staffing limitations.

In response to Patterson's concerns and what she called an ''alarming number of requests,'' the supervisors Wednesday voted to allow Patterson to increase the hours for part-time secretary Judy Abert to help process the requests.

Supervisor Sally Hixson said if the record requests remained a problem, the board would consider an additional position in next year's budget.

Williams charges 25 cents per copy, the maximum allowed by the Right to Know Law, but cannot charge for personnel costs to search and compile the records. Instead, the taxpayers cover the expenses.

The Right to Know Law does allow municipalities to deny a request as ''disruptive'' if someone repeatedly asks for the same record, and producing the record has become a burden to the staff.

Patterson did not return a message seeking comment on whether Williams has issued such denials.