Science Center\u2019s sale<\/a>, which took multiple attempts and weeks to receive.<\/p>\nState lawmakers often issue local government mandates without providing associated funding, Hanewicz said. She believes that is \u201ca challenge every agency faces,\u201d and officials must adjust personnel or processes accordingly.<\/p>\n
City clerk Chandrahasa Srinivasa said St. Petersburg receives nearly 30,000 public records requests annually. That does not include \u201cnormal day-to-day business,\u201d which would push the number closer to 50,000.<\/p>\n
Srinivasa said other local clerk offices may only fulfill 300 annual requests. Hanewicz said it is \u201cour responsibility to do it, whether or not it\u2019s voluminous.\u201d<\/p>\n
All city employees, over 3,000, are public records custodians. Of those, 144 are specialists who work closely with the clerk\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Srinivasa noted that St. Petersburg began using the internal GovQA platform to help process requests in 2014. He and Assistant City Attorney Jeanine Williams, who monitors compliance, subsequently drafted the city\u2019s first guidebook to ensure uniformity.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince then, multiple jurisdictions, as well as municipalities throughout Pinellas County, throughout the state of Florida, have adopted our guidebook as their own,\u201d Srinivasa said. \u201cPrime example: The city of Tampa, most recently, adopted it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Any person can make a verbal or written request to view, photograph or receive a copy of documents, videos and other public records. The city should acknowledge receipt within one business day.<\/p>\n
There are no requirements for someone to formally state that \u201cthis is a public records request,\u201d Srinivasa said. \u201cIf they want it, we\u2019ll make sure that they provide it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city must provide information or documentation within a reasonable time frame, \u201cdepending on the scope and nature of the request.\u201d Srinivasa said some, including those involving the police department, could take six months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no \u2018easy button\u2019 on some of these record requests,\u201d he added. \u201cSome will require a lot of time and effort to protect and safeguard individuals involved in those records.\u201d<\/p>\n
The guidebook states that city staff should not instruct the requester to contact the clerk\u2019s office \u201cbecause we\u2019re all custodians of those records,\u201d Srinivasa said. \u201cThis is something that we stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
City employees also lack authorization to deny requests without permission from the legal department or the clerk\u2019s office. Officials can charge for copies of records that require over 30 minutes of staff time to fulfill.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe use the position, not the person, to provide the cost estimate,\u201d Srinivasa said. \u201cAnd we use the entry-level pay rate of that position.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city processed 16,440 records requests within and 10,528 outside of GovQA in fiscal year 2025. While the platform increases efficiency, it also removes anonymity.<\/p>\n
State statute allows the public to use any method when requesting records. Technological advancements, which Mayor Ken Welch pledged to explore in late December, could provide a solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly, some things have changed related to technology,\u201d Gerdes said. \u201cI\u2019ll make a commitment to you here this morning that we\u2019ll be going back and taking a look at those.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have updated numerous administrative policies since Mayor Welch took office, but obviously, these have not been updated.\u201d<\/p>\n
This content provided in partnership with stpetecatalyst.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A comprehensive report on St. Petersburg\u2019s public records procedures provided insight into an esoteric process and the sheer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[64592,8123,16665,13811,64591,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-131236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-chandrahasa-srinivasa","9":"tag-lisset-hanewicz","10":"tag-local-government","11":"tag-public-records","12":"tag-record-requests","13":"tag-st-pete","14":"tag-st-pete-headlines","15":"tag-st-pete-news","16":"tag-st-petersburg","17":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","18":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}