Nothing defines a community more than its history. And while we haven't been looking, our city government has been busy erasing the official record of Key West. After the death of former City Clerk Josephine Parker in 1999, the city embarked on a systematic effort to destroy official documents relating to every aspect of our local government, dating back to the founding of the City of Key West in 1828: audio and video tapes of government meeting, audit records, development agreements, planning records, building permits, supporting materials— you name it.
The magnitude of the destruction so far has been staggering. Truckloads of papers and tapes have already been hauled to the waste-to-energy plant on Stock Island and incinerated. All of the audio and video tapes of City Commission meetings and Board of Adjustment meetings before 1993. Every audio tape of HARC and Planning Board meetings recorded before 1997. Over 140 cubic feet of supporting documents. And the historical vandalism has only just begun.
This project has been given the ironic title of "the City Clerk's Record Retention Project", a classic example of government doublespeak. The city has even hired a "records retention consultant" to advise the city about how quickly it can legally dispose various types of records. Silly me, I thought a records retention consultant would help city develop efficient methods of storing and accessing records, rather than coaching officials about how quickly they can be tossed out.
To defend their actions, city officials point to the fact that they adhere to state guidelines governing the destruction of public records. But just because the city can get away with something doesn't mean it should.
City officials also complain about the expense of storing records, a legitimate point. But available technology allows us to scan and electronically save documents and transfer audio and visual records from bulky tapes to compact disks, making the space argument moot.
The loss of vital documents cripples our ability to discover the truth about past city government decisions. Instead of the full record of what transpired during critical decision-making sessions, we are left with just the official minutes, terse summaries that reduce hours-long meetings to mere records of motions made, passed or denied.
There is no record of who said what, of promises made by developers, or of discussions that shaped the eventual outcome of votes. Most disturbing, with the original records destroyed, there is no way to verify that the minutes are an accurate reflection of what actually occurred— that someone hasn't tampered with the record to suit their own purposes.
The potential for that kind of abuse is enormous. Evidence of bad decisions and misdeeds by government officials can simply be disappeared. Developers can rewrite development agreements and break promises they made to gain approval of projects. You can just imagine the scammers lining up with wish lists of documents they'd like destroyed.
And the City Clerk's office isn't the only one conducting a records purge. The building, police and fire departments are also undertaking their own records destruction, with no public input of what should be disposed of and what should be saved.
Perhaps the most telling aspect of this gutting of our history is that it was undertaken with no public notice or public input. There was no discussion by the City Commission or any other government body about guidelines for saving or trashing records. Citizens were never given an opportunity to make comments or recommendations. An irreversible action with such far reaching effects is not something that should be carried out without the knowledge and consent of the people of this community.
It's time to put the brakes on this wholesale destruction of our history. The public deserves to have a say in what happens to the irreplaceable documents that record our city's past. And with such a wide range of local organizations devoted to historical preservation and good government, it would be great to see some kind of cooperative effort to prevent the records of our community from disappearing forever.