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Walton County Commissioners' video deposition in public records lawsuit

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Why is this "appalling?" They answered truthfully; they did not know. If they had to get a statute book out every time they signed a paper we would never get permits or documents completed. Of course this is the aim of many.:bang:
It is the staff that should have known; the only "appalling" thing is the records manager admitted she did not have a plan or education. Elected officials are elected to make policy, employees are hired to carry it out.
 
Looks like they are responding exactly how they were told to by a lawyer.

Lawsuit questions Walton's compliance

The days of lax public records maintenance are coming to an end for the Walton County Commission.The commission's existing policies have been questioned in a lawsuit filed in April by Suzanne Harris and an association of condominium owners. She sued after the county failed to respond to a public records request made in October 2008....
 
Why is this "appalling?" They answered truthfully; they did not know. If they had to get a statute book out every time they signed a paper we would never get permits or documents completed. Of course this is the aim of many.:bang:
It is the staff that should have known; the only "appalling" thing is the records manager admitted she did not have a plan or education. Elected officials are elected to make policy, employees are hired to carry it out.

Well in this case I would say that those responsible for setting policy did not do their job. Kept waiting for a question like this "What is you name ?" Answer "I don't know".

I was taught to not sign anything I did not understand. Seems some politicians have a problem with that. Did you read the bill before voting ? I don't know. :funn:

Would have been interesting to have them hooked up to a lie detector when they said "I don't know"
 
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Well in this case I would say that those responsible for setting policy did not do their job. Kept waiting for a question like this "What is you name ?" Answer "I don't know".

I was taught to not sign anything I did not understand. Seems some politicians have a problem with that. Did you read the bill before voting ? I don't know. :funn:

Would have been interesting to have them hooked up to a lie detector when they said "I don't know"


1. It is obvious you have an agenda.
2. It is obvious that agenda involves embarrassing the current commissioners
3. As Kurt points out these are responses that are provided by lawyers to best protect the taxpayers from a lawsuit.
4. Commissioners sign things all the time that were developed by staff and that the commissioner has little direct knowledge of. If commissioners had to personally investigate the laws and issues behind every development order, for example, only 1-2 pieces of property would be developed each year.
 
1. It is obvious you have an agenda.
2. It is obvious that agenda involves embarrassing the current commissioners
3. As Kurt points out these are responses that are provided by lawyers to best protect the taxpayers from a lawsuit.
4. Commissioners sign things all the time that were developed by staff and that the commissioner has little direct knowledge of. If commissioners had to personally investigate the laws and issues behind every development order, for example, only 1-2 pieces of property would be developed each year.

1. Any poster on this board has an agenda. Mine was simple - to report what they said during the deposition and to allow the viewer to evaluate the testimony given
2. I simply posted a link to a NW Florida Daily News video and stated an opinion the testimony was appalling to me.
3. A deposition is sworn testimony compelling the individual to be truthful. Their testimony should not be skewed to "protect the taxpayers", but to give truthful testimony
4. A commissioner takes an oath of office to uphold the constitution of the State of Florida. The publics access to official documents is clearly explained to them by their attorney and Florida's public records laws are some of the broadest in the United States. They have a due diligence responsibility to make sure that that law is complied with. They may delegate responsibility, but they cannot evade the responsibility, otherwise staff would and could sign the affidavit of compliance mentioned.

Any embarrassment is theirs and cannot be created by a simple post of a news article video. My statement was that it was an appalling series of sworn testimony. :scratch:
 
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