Which Rhode Island cities generate the most complaints about government transparency?

Bribe was the subject of 23 complaints during that period, including 22 complaints regarding public records and one complaint regarding an open meeting involving the Pawtucket Charter Review Commission.

Woonsocket was the subject of 15 open records complaints, including two involving the city Police Department and one involving the city School Department.

Meanwhile, a wide range state agencies, departments and quasi-public agencies generated a total of 49 complaints during that period. While no single agency was the subject of a large number of complaints, Department of Transport he had five complaints, governor Daniel J. McKeeThe Rhode Island Airport Corporation office received four complaints, the Rhode Island Airport Corporation received four complaints, and the Department of Corrections received three complaints.

“When we see a pattern of willful, conscious and consistent withholding of data by any city, town or government agency, that entity can expect to face fines,” Neronha told the Globe on Thursday. “But it doesn’t have to come to that. Government transparency is not only the foundation of true trust in our systems, it is the law, and I encourage any government entity that has questions or needs advice to contact our Open Government Unit to ensure compliance.”

Timothy RondeauA spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office noted that filing a complaint does not mean that an offense has been committed.

In some of the complaints, the attorney general’s office determined there was no violation, he said. In other cases, the complaints were withdrawn, and the office has not yet responded to some of the newer complaints, he said. In addition, the office sometimes consolidated related complaints before issuing a ruling.

In February, for example, the attorney general’s office reviewed four complaints at once, finding that Woonsocket “failed to respond to each of these requests or failed to respond in full to each of them within 10 business days” and thus violated the Freedom of Records Act. That decision noted that Woonsocket had recently experienced a change of administration: in November 2023. Lisa Baldelli-Hunt abruptly resigned as mayor, citing health reasons, days after the City Council launched an investigation into a land purchase deal she made with her former business partner.

In May 2023, the attorney general’s office found that Pawtucket violated the Public Records Act by failing to respond to a records request. The city admitted that it failed to respond in a timely manner, citing the absence of a law department employee who typically handles records requests.

The attorney general’s office, however, said it was concerned that Pawtucket had committed similar violations in the past and could find future violations to be “knowing and willful” or “careless.”

Under state law, public bodies can be fined up to $2,000 for a “knowing and willful” violation.

At the Open Government Summit, Neronha said he had previously been reluctant to fine public bodies for willful and intentional violations. “Why should Little League get less money because some city or town official didn’t do what they were supposed to do?” he said.

But Neronha said his office will start issuing fines because it spends too much time on public records and open meetings complaints. His office received 103 public records complaints last year, the most in at least nine years.

“Look, I know there are some people who fly a lot who are like Twitter trolls,” Neronha said of those who complain about public records. “But there are way too many other cases where city and town and state agency officials should know exactly what they need to do: You should just turn it over.”

This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also includes local news, links to interesting stories and more. If you would like to receive it by email Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.

Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @FitzProv.