Open-records requests cost Elco time, money

Shouldn't the headline read " Questionable board member's activities cost ELCO time, money" ?? Mrs. Boltz should have asked for Kramer's help on reading the emails on the server. He has experience doing this activity.

they didn't worry about money when they wanted to build a new school!!!!!!!

you think this is expensive? Try ignorance

Right Phil, ignorance equals $18,000,000+

I love how they try to blame extra costs on the residents of the District. You should have seen the whole routine live on Monday night. First it was 60 hours, then it was 90 hours, then we had to talk about working on the weekends and then we added Franko's hours. And then certain members of the Board basically called the ELCO residents "dumb" because they (the Board) are now educating the residents through right to know requests. "Maybe we (the residents of ELCO) should take some accounting courses" Ahhhh, I don't think so. People are asking for things in a certain way for very specific reasons and those reasons are not lack of education. More like lack of trust, brought on by untrustworthy behavior and actions.

Also, talking negatively about residents of the District by name during a public meeting without them present, not cool.

"Nothing improper turned up," Boltz said. "The target was board members, then a request was made to search staff members. Nothing illegal was found."

Gwen,...REALLY?

Oh Detective Gwen, you wouldn’t know illegal even if someone handed it to you asked you to sign your name on the top, now would you?
Praise the lord for Right to Know request, without them the public would not know that James F. Simmermon who claimed to be an Architect, really is not. We also wouldn’t know that Doug Good have falsely filled out his forms not claiming money he was being paid by ELCO.
I guess the less transparent you try to be will make people dig more.

The request that took 31 hours to complete involved a search of e-mails; the district's server had 180,000 e-mails at the time, which Boltz had to review.

ELCO math problem

31 hours x 60 min = 1,860 min
1,860 min x 60 sec = 111,600 seconds
111,600 seconds divide by 180,000 emails =.62 seconds to review each email.
.62 Seconds per email =?

A.Liar
B.Worlds fast speed reader
C Just another in a long list of lies told to date
C.A and B
D.a and C

Getter Done wrote:

"Nothing improper turned up," Boltz said. "The target was board members, then a request was made to search staff members. Nothing illegal was found."
Gwen,...REALLY?
Oh Detective Gwen, you wouldn’t know illegal even if someone handed it to you asked you to sign your name on the top, now would you?
Praise the lord for Right to Know request, without them the public would not know that James F. Simmermon who claimed to be an Architect, really is not. We also wouldn’t know that Doug Good have falsely filled out his forms not claiming money he was being paid by ELCO.
I guess the less transparent you try to be will make people dig more.

If all of this is true, then what about the votes cast over the years by the two Board members with these ethics issues?

I know this sounds mean, but Gwen is ELCO's business manager?

Is she even qualified to mow grass?

Gwen Boltz lost millions for Northern Lebanon when she was biz mgr there ... and of course ELCO went and hired her ... talk about upward failure!

Ex-NL resident wrote:

Gwen Boltz lost millions for Northern Lebanon when she was biz mgr there ... and of course ELCO went and hired her ... talk about upward failure!

How can that be?
Does anyone check references?
Were former employers contacted?

NL was probably so glad to get rid of her that they gave her a glowing recommendation!

Ex-NL resident wrote:

NL was probably so glad to get rid of her that they gave her a glowing recommendation!

Isnt that how we got Nilsen?

Math Teacher wrote:

The request that took 31 hours to complete involved a search of e-mails; the district's server had 180,000 e-mails at the time, which Boltz had to review.
ELCO math problem
31 hours x 60 min = 1,860 min
1,860 min x 60 sec = 111,600 seconds
111,600 seconds divide by 180,000 emails =.62 seconds to review each email.
.62 Seconds per email =?
A.Liar
B.Worlds fast speed reader
C Just another in a long list of lies told to date
C.A and B
D.a and C

LOL... I think the answer is "D"

"difficult to explain technical data to district residents who are not familiar with the jargon used in some of the reports."

Another example of the elitist attitude some board members and administrators have. Maybe they can't "dumb it down" to "resident" level because they don't understand it themselves??

So elite they cant even fill out a form without lying.
What is your occupation?
Do you have any sources of income?
The public is doing a pretty good job right now to educate the ELCO Board. It sounds like one may be loosing their job in the very near future due thier unwise decisions. I guess you just cant put a price on ignorance.

Look how inefective Kramer and his band of goons have been since they can't break in an read the cititzens emails anymore. Guess they don't know what coming next....

What these "public servants" fail to realize is that retrieving public records is part of their jobs as public servants just like any other duty they perform. I wonder how much time it took her to calculate the cost to retrieve them and if she has ever calculated the cost of how long it has taken her to do other duties.

Why does openness, honesty, and transparency have to be such a problem? Just do it and let the truth set you free. If ya got nothing to hide, none of this should be a big deal. Cost of this, cost of that ... I'm sure if you really dig deep you will find even more wasteful spending that will make RTK (I picked that up from HK on Monday) requests seem like spare change. Oh wait, you don't even have to dig deep (no pun intended), ya just gotta look to the SE corner of the main ELCO campus. Right there it sits $18,000,000+ wasted.

How about taking all of this money we are talking about and putting it toward EDUCATION and improving the District's State ranking.#285 isn't good enough for me ... how about you?

"To the rulers of the state then, if to any, it belongs of right to use falsehood, to deceive either enemies or their own citizens, for the good of the state: and no one else may meddle with this privilege."
Plato

I have read this article several times and every time it leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth, and ashamed of our administration.
“Both board members and staff said they are not trying to hide anything, but they are finding the process to be cumbersome and expensive.”
Why has our solicitor spend 30 hours on requests? He doesn’t even get the request unless the board or administration refers it to him. So the public should be blaming the ELCO staff for running up the bills. Can the administration not handle the “uneducated” questions the public throws at them? Is that why they get referred to their lawyer? Hmmm…….
“The request that took 31 hours to complete involved a search of e-mails; the district's server had 180,000 e-mails at the time, which Boltz had to review. An allegation was made that someone had accepted gifts or meals from vendors.
"Nothing improper turned up," Boltz said. "The target was board members, then a request was made to search staff members. Nothing illegal was found."
So is this why the process is consuming your nights and weekends Ms. Boltz? Why is the RTK officer judging if the information she is providing the citizens is that of illegal conduct or not? Do we now have an additional attorney on staff named Ms. Boltz esq.? Ms. Boltz do you read or should I say “screen” all the documents before you release them?
The article raises more questions about the conduct of the administration and how they are processing requests.
The whole reason the law was passed for transparency, ELCO using tax payers money to pay attorneys in an attempt to deny requests is unforgivable. Ms. Boltz, thanks for letting the public know this kind of conduct is happening at ELCO.