Barrow County Commission Chairman Danny Yearwood this week denied telling other county officials not to allow their employees to speak to the media and to start charging reporters for all contacts, including interviews, that are longer than 15 minutes.
Multiple sources at Yearwood’s called meeting June 2 told the Barrow Journal that in addition to directing elected officials and department heads to tell their employees not to talk to reporters, Yearwood told them to limit their own interviews to 15 minutes and told them to charge for any media contacts exceeding that.
Asked Monday if that correctly described his new policy, Yearwood responded in an e-mail, “No it does not.”
He added: “Let me first say I did not exclude anyone from talking with the media, however, questions should be asked of a director not to someone who works under the director.”
He said all requests for public records would require the submission of written open-records requests and that “the County will abide by the law.”
Under Georgia Law, public agencies can charge for time to respond to open records requests that exceeds 15 minutes, but that does not apply to interviews with public officials.
UNOFFICIAL AUDIO RECORDING
Yearwood noted in his e-mail that it was Human Resources Director Norma Jean Brown who had talked about the specifics of the Georgia Open Records Act during the June 2 meeting.
“Norma Jean was the one quoting all the laws not me so contact her if you want more information,” he wrote.
Stung by recent public criticism of her comments, Brown said last week that she could prove exactly what was said.
Asked if she had recorded the meeting, she said she had, because she thought the meeting was being called to discuss the budget and she wanted to make sure she conveyed the information accurately to her staff.
At the
Barrow Journal’s request, Brown provided a CD of the audio. Since the county did not record the meeting, it is the only documentation of what was actually said during the meeting. The recording confirms much of what sources told this newspaper last week.
For more on this story, see the June 16 edition of the Barrow Journal or click here to sign up for a free trial of our new e-edition. Offer ends July 13.
