By ED MAHON
(York) Daily Record/Sunday News

In February, York County administrator Chuck Noll responded to a Delaware resident's open records request for a log of all 911 calls for five addresses over specific time periods.
Noll denied the initial request, saying that information associated with specific addresses was not public. He also wrote a list of five items in call responses that are public. That list didn't include information about geographic locations.

Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said the county's initial denial appeared to make an argument that was specifically denied by Commonwealth Court, which ruled that time-response logs must include addresses or geographical locations.

"The fact that they're making this argument certainly has the potential to create a serious barrier to access," Melewsky said.

Noll said the initial request was denied because it asked for information that is not public. He said the list of five items included in time response logs was meant to help the requester get information.

"I gave him an option to do something different. I am not trying to hide anything," Noll said.

He said he provided more information in his response than was required of him, that he wasn't quoting law and people shouldn't read too much into the language in the response.

The requester, Andrew E. Staub, of New Castle, Del., did eventually receive response logs with geographic locations. And Noll said Staub didn't appeal. Staub declined to comment for this story.

Melewsky said there shouldn't have been any back and forth.

"Many requesters would have gotten the denial and said, 'Oh, shucks. I'm out of luck.' And that's improper," she said. "Not everyone is willing or able to dispute what their government agency tells them."

For York County, the issue of 911 time response logs goes back several years and involves multiple appeals.

The state Commonwealth Court made its ruling in February 2011. After the decision, the county provided those records to the York Daily Record/Sunday News.

But Melewsky said the county could have done a better job in responding to Staub's recent request.

—Noll said he took over open records responsibilities when former county solicitor Michael Flannelly was sworn in as York County Court of Common Pleas judge in July. Noll said the county has not lost any appeals since then. He said he's received few requests related to 911 records.

On Feb. 7, Staub asked for a "log of all 911 calls for service and related information, including but not limited to the time and date of the call, the nature of the call and the disposition of the call associated with" five addresses.

The timeframe varied, but one request was for information as far back as Jan. 1, 2009.

Noll consulted with York County Department of Emergency Services personnel, who said Staub's request would require a subpoena or court order. Eric Bistline, executive director of the county's Department of Emergency Service, provided a definition of call response logs, available for the public, which did not include information about geographic locations.

In a Feb. 12 letter, Noll denied the request "for information associated with specific addresses."

Noll and Staub later talked on the phone, according to an email from Noll that is available in the county's open records log.

"I understand from our conversation this morning that you are not looking for specific address information, rather you are requesting the County's Call Logs for the closest cross-street addresses," Noll wrote on Feb. 19. "We can provide those logs."

On Feb. 25, Noll provided a spreadsheet with call logs, the closest cross-street locations for the specific addresses and time periods that were requested. For two of the five locations, no such records existed, Noll said.

— Melewsky said York County officials should have first responded by saying they could provide cross-street addresses at a minimum, rather than initially denying the request.

"I think that is clearly in the public interest," she said.

Noll said he went out of his way to help the requester.

"We do our best to provide the information that is available," he said.

Some other notable open records requests

—In February, attorney Daniel S. Altschuler of Philadelphia requested audio tape of any 911 calls "in connection with an incident at York County Prison which occurred" about 11 p.m. Nov. 21, 2012.

That is the night of a carbon monoxide leak at York County Prison in Springettsbury Township, which sent 49 female inmates to various hospitals.

Eric Bistline, executive director of the York County Department of Emergency Services, responded by saying the request was denied. But he said the department does provide such records through a subpoena or court order.

Altschuler could not be reached for comment.

Donald Reihart, acting solicitor for the county, said there have been no lawsuits filed against the county as a result of that carbon monoxide leak.

Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said 911 audio recordings are exempt from public access, but agencies can choose to release them.

— In March, the York Daily Record/Sunday News requested copies of the county's new and former religious practices policy for York County Prison inmates.

Reihart, acting solicitor for the county, initially recommended refusing the request, saying prison policies and procedures are not public records.

"Inmates will use them to their advantage and can easily disrupt the good order and discipline at the prison," Reihart wrote in an email, available in the county's open records log.

He said, as an example, an inmate could quote "policy rights" to a corrections officer who is not familiar with a particular policy and make the corrections officer look bad in front of other inmates. Another example would be "gaming" the system with such information, Reihart said.

County administrator Chuck Noll denied the request in a March 14 letter, saying disclosure of prison "policies and procedures could jeopardize the safety and welfare of Prison personnel and compromise security protocol."

Before an appeal was filed, the county reversed its decision in a March 18 letter and granted the request.

"After I re-evaluated, I thought it was appropriate," Reihart said.

He said details of the new policy had been discussed at a public meeting.

Melewsky, with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said some prison policies are not public for safety and security reasons. But she said not every policy raises those issues.

"In this situation, I think they did the right thing, and I commend them for that," she said.

The language in the response

County administrator Chuck Noll received advice from York County Emergency Services personnel when he responded to the request for 911 response logs.

Eric Bistline, executive director of the county's Department of Emergency Service, said in an email that information provided was in accordance with how the county's computer assisted dispatch software maintains data associated with time response logs.

He said the response provided is consistent with the February 2011 Commonwealth Court decision, which says "the County is directed to make available to Requester its time response logs in the same manner in which it maintains these records, with the proviso that it can substitute cross-street addresses for destination addresses."

That section of the decision was referring specifically to the York Daily Record/Sunday News' case, as the news organization had agreed that if cross-street information was provided that would be a sufficient response to the request.

In its decision, the Commonwealth Court defined a time response log in regards to the open records law by saying, "time response logs must contain the time of the request for service, the address or cross-street information, and when the responder arrived at the scene. Without the address or cross-street information, there would be no way of knowing exactly how far the emergency responders had to travel in response to any given call and, therefore, no way of determining whether or not those response times were deficient."

Multiple appeals

A York Daily Record/Sunday News reporter requested time response logs with addresses in 2009.

The county argued it was not required to provide addresses or geographical locators under the open records law and that doing so would jeopardize victims.

The news organization appealed to the state's Office of Open Records, arguing that a list of destinations was essential for meaningful analysis of response times.

The Office of Open Records granted the Daily Record's appeal. The county then appealed to Common Pleas Court. In a 15-page decision, Judge Richard K. Renn ruled the only information required to be released in time response logs was:

• The time a call is received by 911;
• The time the emergency responder is contacted;
• The time the responder departs for the scene;
• The time the responder arrives at the scene;
• And the time the responder clears the scene.

The Daily Record appealed to the state Commonwealth Court, which unanimously ruled in February 2011 that time response logs must contain the time of the request for services, the address or cross-street information, and when the responder arrived at the scene.