State Rep., redevelopment authority tangle over LSA records
It appears state Rep. Bud Cook and the Washington County Redevelopment Authority are headed to court over the legislator鈥檚 requests for records related to the Local Share Account of gambling proceeds.
At the crux of their dispute is a decision from the state Office of Open Records, which granted Cook鈥檚 appeal to obtain records of LSA grant recipients.
The redevelopment authority, which administers the local share program on behalf of the county commissioners, contends it has turned over to Cook (R-West Pike Run Township) most of the materials he requested and has granted him access to other information.
William McGowen, executive director of the authority, said Cook 鈥渨ants everything including all invoices, receipts and canceled checks from 2008 on. We told him, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e more than happy to have it. You can either copy it or have it copied.鈥�
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to waste 2,000 man hours of taxpayer money to do that because it鈥檚 totally voluminous and requires a tremendous amount of time and effort from our staff to do that.
鈥淲e鈥檒l give him access to whatever he wants.鈥�
Some records, McGowen said, are in the redevelopment authority鈥檚 Courthouse Square office while others are stored off-site.
鈥淲e鈥檇 be glad to have him come to where the stuff is and go through whatever he wants to go through,鈥� McGowen said.
鈥淭he agency did not prove that the request was duplicative and burdensome,鈥� attorney Jill S. Wolfe, appeals officer for the Office of Open Records, decided last week in a nine-page document.
The redevelopment authority chief has discussed a court appeal with Solicitor Colin Fitch, 鈥渁nd we鈥檙e moving ahead in that direction,鈥� McGowen said.
Jeff Kotula, chairman of the local share committee, was not a party to the open records case, but he characterized Cook鈥檚 request as seeking 鈥渢housands of pages of LSA applications, contracts and correspondence from the past 11 years.
鈥淚t is every citizen鈥檚 right to request public information; however, the amount of information he is requesting is expensive to reproduce. That is why the authority, in an effort to save taxpayer dollars and eliminate paper waste, offered him the opportunity to visit their offices to review the information firsthand. It appears he did not accept their offer to save taxpayers鈥� money.鈥�
Legislation that allowed The Meadows Racetrack to open a casino with slot machines requires money to be set aside for community improvement projects, job training and infrastructure within Washington County.
Since its inception in 2008, the Local Share Account has funded just over $101.3 million worth of projects ranging from sewers in the West Brownsville area and roads at Southpointe and Starpointe business parks to more modest ones such as doors that open automatically at the Washington Senior Citizens Center.
Local governments and non-governmental organizations compete for the local share of gaming revenue, making presentations to a committee at annual public hearings. The committee forwards recommendations to the county commissioners, who, in the past, have approved it and forwarded it to the State Department of Community and Economic Development for final oversight.
Cook last April sought co-sponsorship among fellow legislators to change the law, sending LSA money to 15 school districts within Washington County so they could apply it to individual property tax bills, increasing amounts of homestead and farmstead exemptions. The proposal has yet to have co-sponsors sign on or be introduced.
鈥淏ringing gaming was sold to us as a way to significantly reduce our property tax bills, so we need to be extra careful with any monies diverted from that purpose,鈥� Cook said in a news release. He did not return a phone call Monday from the Observer-Reporter.
Cook is running for a third, two-year term in the 49th Legislative District. Tony Bottino Jr. of Carroll Township filed as a challenger in the April 28 Republican primary.