Hoboken’s new public information policy, which only came to light after being leaked to the media last week, tells City Hall employees that they may be terminated if they speak to the media without getting permission from the city’s business administrator. And a new Police Department policy, separate from the administrative directive distributed to City Hall employees last week, requires residents to file Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request forms in the city clerk’s office before heading to the police station to obtain a police report.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer said last week that the public information policy for City Hall staffers is necessary to stop misinformation from being leaked to the press and the public.
“Staff as representatives of the City of Hoboken should work towards the presentation of City issues in a positive manner.” – Directive from Mayor Dawn Zimmer
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When asked where the policy originated, Zimmer said the administrative directive, which was distributed to employees on Feb. 6, came from “[Business Administrator] Arch Liston’s experience” and was “modeled after a similar policy in Camden.”
The directive was not revealed to the press or public until a local daily newspaper got a copy of the memo last week and wrote about it. Zimmer said she was not trying to keep the new policy a secret, and planned on posting it to the city website.
The city’s website frequently includes press releases written by City Communications Director Juan Melli. Melli can still give information to the press without checking with Business Administrator Arch Liston, but information from other city employees must be vetted by Liston.
The policy does not directly address whistleblowers, or people who leak information about government wrongdoing to the press so that it can be stopped. Zimmer said on Thursday, “Whisteblowers are protected by state law and this ordinance does not diminish that protection.”
However, when asked if Zimmer would try to identify anonymous sources in published stories, she said if it was brought to her attention, she would try to identify the person responsible for the information being distributed to the press.
Melli said on Friday that nothing has changed for the press, but the city is just tweaking the internal process for employees.
The memo says “Adherence of this policy is required and expected of all City employees. Failure to comply will result in the administration of disciplinary actions up to and including termination of employment.”
Criticism from council
When Zimmer ran for office, she promoted transparency and open government. Thus, her actions subjected her to scrutiny last week.
Councilman Michael Russo blasted the new policy in a press release and during the council meeting on Wednesday.
“There are situations here where someone who may be a friend with a member of the press, and Arch [Liston] or the mayor sees them talking on the street. Is Arch going to ask [what they were talking about?],” Russo asked.
City attorney Mark Tabakin said the new policy’s intent is not to stifle anyone or force employees to give up their First Amendment rights.
Tabakin said that over the last four months, employees have talked to the press and given false information. During the council meeting, Tabakin specifically cited an incident when he says a police officer indicated a suicide might have been a murder.
However, a police officer at the meeting voiced vocal displeasure when Tabakin stated this, yelling that it was a lie.
“All this is trying to do is hold people accountable for what they say, and do it through the appropriate channels,” Tabakin said. “[The administration] wants to make sure the information is accurate.”
“I don’t think anyone has the right to determine what is accurate in their opinion,” Russo said in response at the meeting. “Not only are you stifling the employees, you’re infringing on the rights of the press. This is not a private entity. You can’t walk into AT&T and say I want to know what’s going on. This is a public entity.”
Zimmer stated that she would not stop employees from attending council meetings and voicing their opinions. One resident, Margaret O’Brien, worried that since she was a crossing guard she would not be able to write Letters to the Editor in The Hoboken Reporter.
She said she will continue to write.
“If you don’t like it, mister, you can put the cuffs on me right now,” O’Brien said at the meeting to Liston and Tabakin. “I’m not [going to] shut up. I’m not going to stop writing my letters.”
Zimmer said O’Brien is free to continue to voice her opinion in the newspaper.
Questions of rights
Zimmer said the directive was passed through the legal department first, but Russo believes parts of it are unconstitutional.
“You need to be able to express [an opinion] anyway you see fit,” Russo said on Thursday. “Having said that, you shouldn’t undermine the policy. For example, if I’m an employee and I don’t like the way we’re removing snow, I should have the right to say so. It doesn’t mean I put more snow in the street.”
Russo believes the city could have some sort of media policy, but does not agree with this one in place.
“It’s such a broad policy,” he said. “I’m not saying don’t do it. There are ways to do certain things, but to blatantly disrespect someone’s right to speak about what they choose and threaten them with their job is unheard of.”
One provision of the policy states, “While truthfulness is required in all dealings, staff as representatives of the City of Hoboken should work towards the presentation of City issues in a positive manner.”
Another portion of the directive states that if an employee’s personal interest in an issue is different from the city’s position, the employees are required to clearly state that their position is personal, but still must notify the business administrator and an immediate supervisor following any conversation or interview with a media member on the same day.
Police reports harder to get now
Zimmer said she is working with the fire and police departments on their public information policies as well, including the possibility of establishing public information officers at both departments. Information from the police and fire departments is vetted through the chiefs, not Liston, according to Melli.
Zimmer is at odds with one new public information policy in the police department. She said she does not feel that residents should have to file Open Public Records Act requests in City Hall in order to obtain police reports from the Police Department. Police Chief Anthony Falco recently instituted the policy, according to Zimmer.
“It should be possible for victims to get their information,” Zimmer said. She also said the Legal Department is inquiring into how a new policy could be drafted to work with Falco.
Recently, the Police Department changed another policy. Until the last few weeks, the department had e-mailed copies of any non-confidential police reports to media outlets so they could write about local incidents of burglary, assault, and other crimes. Then the department said that reporters could not have copies of the reports. Officers now dictate police reports to the media.
Hoboken has three news outlets that cover city government on a regular basis – as well as several blogs that report news and often either support or criticize the mayor, depending on who is behind the blog.
Public information
Melli said on Friday that the city is moving toward increasing document availability.
“Documents that were given to city residents without OPRA requests before are still provided to residents,” Melli said in an e-mail. “We are working to drastically increase the amount of information available on the website so that OPRA requests aren’t even required.”
Zimmer said that it was important to have a policy in place.
“If you look at the private sector, all the successful corporations have media policies,” Zimmer said.
When asked whether public information might be different, considering taxpayers fund City Hall and it’s not a privately held company, Zimmer stood by the policy.
“Ensuring that information is accurate is completely consistent with the principles of open government,” Zimmer said. “Allowing information to be disseminated without any review to ensure that it is accurate and legally permitted to be released does not serve the principles of open government and could result in the city incurring liability if the information is false or confidential.”
Council members
Meanwhile, Liston has also been designated by the mayor as a go-between when the council members request information from city directors.
Tabakin sent out a memo to council members on Feb. 17 to remind them that they can’t directly request information from or assign work to city directors or other city employees, as per state law. The memo quotes the law noting that “The municipal council shall deal with employees of the department of administration and other administrative departments solely through the mayor or his designee.”
Tabakin states, “I request that you kindly stop communicating directly with directors and employees for the purpose of assigning them work and/or requesting information and analysis from them. Kindly direct all inquiries and communications to Arch Liston, business administrator, as the mayor’s designee.”
Ray Smith may be reached at RSmith@hudsonreporter.com