Officials with the City of Tucson waited two weeks to produce minutes from a city review board meeting, despite being informed that they were violating Arizona public records law.
On March 27, the Star made a public records request for the minutes of a March 17 Civil Service Commission meeting, involving a former Tucson police officer's appeal of his firing for running illegal records checks.
City spokeswoman Lane Mandle responded that they weren't ready yet and they'd be posted on the website as soon as they were done.
The Star responded, citing the Arizona Public Records Law regarding open meetings, which says that minutes "shall be open to public inspection three working days after the meeting."
Hours later, Mandle replied, saying that the minutes had been requested from the city's human resources department.
A week later, after the minutes still hadn't been released, the Star followed up with Mandle, asking when the minutes would be ready.
Mandle never responded.
The minutes were finally released on April 11, after the Star informed Mandle that a story was being prepared detailing the city's refusal to release the minutes.
For information about what happened during the Civil Service Commission meeting, read the full story, "Ex-Tucson officer loses appeal in firing over illegal records checks."
