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The Times will donate more than $10,000 won in a suit over public records to St. Petersburg College students in Pinellas Park.
By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 6, 2002
PINELLAS PARK -- More than $10,000 that the city paid for failing to release public records will go to fund scholarships for St. Petersburg College students in the Pinellas Park area.
The money awarded to the St. Petersburg Times stems from a decision city officials made to hire an outside consultant to do a morale survey of Pinellas Park police officers. The Times requested copies of the completed surveys and of the anonymous handwritten comments made during the survey. Pinellas Park and MGT, the consultant, refused and sued the newspaper, asking the court to decide if the records were "public" under state law.
Pinellas/Pasco Circuit Judge John Lenderman decided last year that the records were public and ordered that they be turned over. He also decided that the city should pay the Times $10,366 in attorneys' fees and costs for not turning over the records when they originally were requested. As is the custom at the Times, the money is being donated back to the affected community.
"We donate legal fees awarded in open government cases to worthy causes back in the communities where the case arose," said Paul Tash, the Times' editor and president. "That way, the taxpayers don't suffer for the bad decisions of their public officials."
The money will go to the St. Petersburg College Foundation, which will identify Pinellas Park students with the greatest need to receive the college scholarships.