RCFP attorneys helped the paper reach a settlement requiring Lancaster Township to train employees on the Right to Know Law.
In response to a lawsuit Reporters Committee attorneys filed on behalf of a local newspaper, a township in western Pennsylvania has agreed to train its employees on the government’s obligations under the state’s public records law, as well as pay a fine and cover the newspaper’s legal fees.
The settlement reached between The Butler Eagle and Lancaster Township means that the officials in charge of ensuring transparency in local government will now receive the training necessary to know which records should be released to the public under Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law. It also sets an important example for other local governments trying to settle public records disputes without engaging in timely and costly litigation.
“This agreement is a big deal,” said Paula Knudsen Burke, the Reporters Committee’s Local Legal Initiative attorney in Pennsylvania, who litigated the case on behalf of the newspaper and one of its reporters. “There is no requirement for any government employees to be trained on the Right to Know Law. So having the township obligate themselves to provide training for their employees is a huge nod to the importance of the law and to their commitment to transparency going forward.”
The lawsuit stemmed from a public records request Alex Weidenhof, a reporter for The Butler Eagle and The Cranberry Eagle, submitted to Lancaster Township...
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