Gary Holland gets his own handler – Weaver
By Mandy Catoe
mcatoe@thelancasternews.com
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| Gary Holland |
The Lancaster County website, www.mylancastersc.org, sets out the procedure for filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests: “Please email the Clerk to Council at dhardin@lancastercountysc.net or mail your request to County of Lancaster: Attention: Clerk to Council.”
It is clear that council clerk Debbie Hardin is the contact person for information requests to the county, except for Holland, who was told in May to file his another way.
Last Sept. 15, County Administrator Steve Willis sent an email to Hardin advising her that he had appointed County Attorney John Weaver as the “contact person for all Gary Holland's FOIA requests, regardless of department.”
The day before and apparently as a result of his conversation with Willis, Weaver sent an email advising other county officials that he would be the contact person for Holland. He notified Human Resources Director Lisa Robinson and Planning Director Penelope Karagounis.
Weaver’s email also said, “In an effort to get some continuity in our countless questions from Mr. Holland… Steve has assigned that task to me. Hopefully it will give him a specific contact point and conversely will make sure Lancaster County speaks with one voice.”
Weaver went on to advise the officials to send the requests to him without any response on their part to Holland.
Holland contends he had only sent FOIA requests to Hardin and Willis prior to being required to send them to Weaver, but says he has asked other questions of 15 different departments.
Asked why Holland’s FOIAs should be funneled through the county attorney, Willis acknowledged the process is a bit unusual.
“Mr. Holland, by himself, is just under 50 percent of our total FOIA requests,” Willis said. “Most of his are fairly complex and so since John has to review all of them anyway, it is easier to let him handle these because it is such a larger number.”
Willis said Holland’s requests are detailed, with sections and sub-sections, and need to go to various departments, so Weaver, as Holland’s contact, can sort through them and figure out where the information is.
“We are getting so many in so many areas from Holland that we need to have a single point of contact,” Willis said.
“All the FOIAs are reviewed by John to be sure we are on firm legal ground – are we releasing what we should and are we withholding what we should? That kind of thing,” Willis said.
Hardin said that between Jan. 1 and July 5 of this year, Lancaster County has received 75 FOIA requests. Thirty-three were from Holland.
Jay Bender, former attorney for the S.C. Press Association and the state’s best-known FOIA advocate, said he sees nothing wrong with this process.
“If the county is responding in a timely fashion, and not trying to charge for the attorney’s time, I don't see a problem with this arrangement,” he said.
But Bender cautioned that government agencies sometimes send sensitive communications through their attorneys in an effort to cloak them in attorney-client privilege.
“The FOIA provides an exemption for records covered by the attorney-client privilege, but many public bodies abuse that exemption by claiming it applies to all records touched by the body's attorney,” he said. “The privilege only applies to confidential information, which has not been shared with anyone outside the scope of the representation.”
It is clear that Lancaster County officials have been aware of the attorney-client issue in some cases involving Holland.
Earlier this year, Holland asked the county for information about the Ansley Park subdivision, suspecting that development might be in violation of federal rules protecting the endangered Carolina heelsplitter.
He requested correspondence between endangered-species biologist Morgan Wolf of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Lancaster County planner Elaine Boone. The county sent Holland an email between Boone and someone else.
Weaver then sent Holland a copy of an email he sent to Joshua Vann and Jeff Morris, attorneys for the developers of property near Six Mile Creek, dated Jan. 27, 2016.
The subject of the email was “Report of ongoing violations along Six Mile Creek/Collins Road PDD-26.” Weaver also forwarded Holland’s emails to the attorneys. Holland’s emails were allegations of environmental violations at Six Mile Creek.
Twenty-four minutes before Weaver sent his email to the developers’ attorneys, Willis sent an email to Councilman Jack Estridge, Council Chairman Bob Bundy and Weaver regarding ongoing violations along Six Mile Creek/Collins Road PDD-26. Willis advised them to talk with Weaver regarding the matter from that point forward because “he is familiar with this case, but his communications are protected whereas mine are not.”
Willis confirmed Thursday that he was referring to the attorney/client privilege.
“More than likely, litigation was inevitable on this,” Willis said. “One of the things we learned early on is if you are talking about potential litigation, then my e-mails are public record and John’s are not. His are protected because of attorney/client privilege.”
Holland doesn’t like being singled out for different treatment than other taxpayers.
“I don’t have a problem if Mr. Willis wants to appoint Mr. Weaver the FOIA clerk duties, as long as it is the same person for every citizen,” Holland said.
Willis confirmed Thursday that the point of contact for the general public is still Hardin. But he stressed that Weaver is still part of the process for all FOIA requests, reviewing information before it is released.
But Hardin said simple or routine requests do not have to get Weaver’s review.
“For example, if someone requests a copy of a policy from human resources, the director knows she can release that without having to run that by Weaver,” Hardin said.
Holland says that even questions he sends to the Human Resources Department about dates of employment and job descriptions have been forwarded to Weaver, as well as questions he has for Willis.
“Those questions were for the administrator, not his employee,” Holland said.
Other Indian Land activists feel Holland is being singled out because he is competent and thorough with his research. Indian Land Action Council (ILAC) President Jane Tanner felt the treatment was so unfair she called a meeting with Bundy to discuss the issues July 6. Tanner said Holland was present, along with ILAC members Waylon Wilson and Melvin Stroble.
Tanner says ILAC depends on Holland to provide it with information and the county is limiting that. Holland is entitled to an apology from Weaver, Tanner said.
“I want Mr. Weaver to send a personal note to Gary Holland apologizing for discrimination against him,” she said. “I also want Weaver to go to all the county departments withdrawing his statement that Holland has to go directly to him.”
“If you see the email from Weaver to Holland advising him to go through him first and only him, then you can’t see this as anything other than discrimination,” Wilson said. “That’s black and white.”
He said the county government is not used to this kind of scrutiny and questioning.
Holland claims the county takes his questions, turns them into FOIA requests, then often uses FOIA laws to tell him the question cannot be answered.
Holland gave an example of that from an April 19 request. He asked Willis to place Weaver’s opinion online regarding why a motion to rescind the Planning Commission’s prior approval of the Ansley Park preliminary plan was out of order.
The next day Holland received an email from Willis.
“The document you seek is a legal opinion from an attorney to his client,” Willis said. “As such it is not subject to FOIA and I do not have a copy as I was not the client in this matter.”
Holland wrote County Council on May 24, asking it to “reverse any written or non-written directives from this Administration to all departments that would treat any one citizen differently than the whole.”
He presented his concerns June 16 to the county Community Relations Committee, a county government panel that advocates community harmony and provides an objective forum for fairness and equity. He has received no response.
Holland asked to meet with County Council in private or in executive session to discuss the matter, but was told June 29 by Hardin that Weaver and Bundy had determined this was not a matter for executive session. They did advise him they could put the matter on the agenda for a public council meeting.
Holland said he did not want the appeal process to be discussed or handled in public and has asked them to come up with another way.
“All I want is for it to stop, please,” Holland said.
Contact Mandy Catoe (803) 283-1152
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