CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Whistleblower 9 investigation is raising questions about openness and transparency with the city of Charlotte.
Investigative reporter Paul Boyd uncovered an internal email that contains instructions for compliance with an important public records law.
The email is dated Dec. 14 and was written by assistant city manager Hyong Yi.
He sent the email to all city of Charlotte department heads and directs them to contact corporate communications when they receive a public records request "from the media," so that records are released "without unintentionally providing additional information, which may capture their interest." He also references the need to "manage" any media coverage.
[ DOCUMENT: Copy of email (email addresses and phone numbers omitted.) ]
Channel 9 provided the email to the North Carolina Open Government Coalition for analysis. Director Jonathan Jones said the bulk of the internal email attempts to strike a tone that is fully compliant with state law, but runs into trouble when discussing any effort to filter media requests.
"This is a policy directive going out to department heads telling them, 'Hey, if the media asks for information, we need to be able to review that and make sure we don't give them information that's going to cause a story,' and that is really problematic,” Jones said. “That's really disconcerting because that's the opposite of government transparency."
Whistleblower 9 asked the city of Charlotte about the internal document. They did not specifically answer our question about the purpose or motive behind Yi's email. Instead, they provided this statement that questioned our very coverage of this story:
"We're not sure why WSOC continues to run sensationalized and misleading stories about the City of Charlotte and the new city manager Marcus Jones. The city has spent hundreds of hours processing public records requests and has supplied thousands and thousands of documents to the media, including WSOC, and private citizens in response to requests. To suggest that the city has been anything but open and transparent is simply inaccurate," said Kathryn Luck, of the city of Charlotte in the statement.
The North Carolina Open Government Coalition hopes elected city officials look closely at the internal email and consider its serious implications.
"This particular memo was perhaps poorly worded at best, and at worst is an indication that there is an attempt to hide things," Jones said.