Scranton must provide to a city resident listings of all current police officers and firefighters and their years of service, according to a determination by the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records.
Resident Gary Lewis submitted to the city on Oct. 10 a Right to Know Law request for the employee lists and two other items: a clarification of a portion of the fire union contract, specifically whether $162,892 in damages owed to union members was owed to them individually or collectively; and an update on the status of the city's long-overdue 2011 audit and an explanation of why it was more than 100 days late.
On Nov. 20, the city denied Mr. Lewis' request by claiming the items he sought were not public records.
Regarding lists of employees and their years of service, the city simply asserted in one sentence - without giving any legal basis - that such lists are not public records, the decision states.
As for the contract clarification and an audit update, the city said Mr. Lewis was seeking answers to questions, but not records or documents that the city must provide.
Mr. Lewis appealed on Nov. 26 to the OOR, which on Wednesday issued a split decision.
The OOR disagreed with the city that lists of employees and their years of service are not public records, and it upheld Mr. Lewis' request on these two lists.
"The information sought here, a listing of an agency's employees' names and years of service, properly meets the definition of a 'public record' under the Right-to-Know Law," states the "final determination" of appeals officer Angela Eveler, Esq., that is posted on the OOR's website.
The city now has 30 days to either provide the lists to Mr. Lewis or appeal the determination to Lackawanna County Court.
However, regarding Mr. Lewis' requests for information about the contract and audit, the OOR agreed with the city that these requests were akin to seeking answers to questions but not specific records. The OOR dismissed these two requests.
Mr. Lewis also can appeal these dismissals to court. But he said he instead would simply resubmit to the city another Right to Know Law request that is worded in a way to seek specific records rather than answers.
Efforts to reach the city's Right to Know officer, Business Administrator Ryan McGowan, were unsuccessful.
A financial consultant who became civically active in the city in 2012, Mr. Lewis has advocated for the city filing Chapter 9 bankruptcy to solve its fiscal woes and also testified against the city's petition for a commuter tax.
Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com