ICOG offers Hoosiers help with government transparency questions through new hotline

The Indiana Coalition for Open Government will initiate a help line for Hoosiers, media members and government officials to answer questions about public access in the state.

ICOG hopes the office will help new Public Access Counselor Jennifer Ruby Gee with the current backlog of advisory and informal opinion requests, along with having the time to hire adequate staff to better serve the public. The action is a response to media reports that Hoosiers who have reached out to the PAC, have not received a response or the response has been very slow.

"If we can answer half the questions the PAC normally gets, that will free time to get the office caught up so that Hoosiers who need formal opinions can receive them from her office in a timely manner," said ICOG president Zachary Baiel.

Anyone is welcome to contact the 260-ASK-ICOG (260-275-4264) help line with a question concerning the application of the Open Door Law or Access to Public Records Act, the two statutes that are the foundation of Indiana's government transparency statutes. Hoosiers with more by visiting our help line page at indianacog.org/help.

The ICOG board includes several members with decades of experience in utilizing the Open Door Law and Access to Public Records Act to monitor actions of state and local government units. While answers to questions from the help line can't be considered legal advice, we believe we can help direct those who contact us understand their rights and the obligations of government units under the access laws.

The Indiana Coalition for Open Government is a charitable 501(c)(3) organization created to help Hoosiers advocate for government transparency. Learn more at indianacog.org/.

Hoosiers, whose questions require an informal or formal opinion from the PAC, will be referred to that state office, but we expect many queries can be satisfactorily answered through the help line.

ICOG intends to operate the help line for approximately 90 days. It will then assess the continuing need for such a public resource. Depending upon the state's resourcing of the PAC, ICOG could extend this service.