P&Z offices usually prompt, helpful

Questions, delays often the norm with school districts

If you want to find out what may be planned for the vacant lot near your home, chances are you're in luck.

But if you want to find out how much tax money your school superintendent spends on out-of-town trips, you're likely to raise a few eyebrows before getting the information.

When auditors wanted to review and copy records at planning and zoning departments around Arizona, they usually received them on the spot, no questions asked.

"I think it's the way we are trained. We are here to explain process and how a community is growing," said Debra Stark, Peoria's community development director and a vice president of the Arizona Planning Association.

While school districts turned over expense records for their superintendents, many did so only after delays and asking why the information was being requested.

Arizona's Public Records Law requires that records be available to anyone for inspection and copying "at all times during business hours."

Some school district officials said records aren't always provided on the spot because it takes time for their staffs to find records.

It took an Arizona Republic reporter two trips to the Dysart Unified School District 89 in El Mirage and a meeting with Superintendent Margo Seck before she was allowed to see records.

Seck said she would have handed over the documents even if the auditor didn't want to meet with her. The purpose of the meeting was to explain the documents, Seck said.

At Lake Havasu Unified School District 1, an employee repeatedly pressed a reporter from Today's News-Herald to reveal his occupation. When the auditor finally said he was a journalist, the employee handed over the record.

Superintendent Joseph Meli said the public shouldn't face a series of questions when requesting records. But he said school districts need to take special care in releasing information that could affect privacy and safety.

Norma Maese, business director for the Agua Fria Union High School District in Avondale, quickly made copies of the superintendent's expense records. She didn't ask for an Associated Press reporter's business affiliation or reason for wanting the documents.

Planning and zoning offices provided what most auditors described as quick, courteous and no-questions-asked service. In some cases, finding the right person to ask was the most difficult part of making a request.

While Chandler's planning and zoning office was helpful in fulfilling a request, it took longer to find the person who knew the answers than it took to pull the files and make the copies.

In Show Low, administrative assistant Liz Callihan handed over planning and zoning records quickly without asking an auditor to identify himself or why he wanted them.

* Associated Press reporter Jacques Billeaud contributed to this report.