Kent County Agency Wants 10 Years To Fill Open Records Law Request

In October, patient advocate and licensed social worker Marianne Huff submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to Kent County’s community mental health authority asking for documents about cuts in payments to private mental health service providers.

Officials at the authority responded that it would cost $241,000 to locate and provide the requested documents. They also said the work would not be complete until April 23 - in the year 2029.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is not aware of any other open records request in the state of Michigan in which a government entity claimed it would take 10 years to provide the records sought.

The county mental health authority is called Network 180, and it contracts with dozens of private mental health professionals to deliver services to county residents.

Huff requested “all memoranda, directives, policies, emails, presentations and/or meeting minutes” from the eight-month time period of Feb. 1 through Sept. 30. She was was looking into “the implementation of utilization management and the reduction of network provider rates.”

Network 180 estimated that it had to go through 98,567 messages and it would take 6,574 hours to complete the work, with an average of 12 hours per week dedicated to the effort. That came out to 548 weeks to complete.

"Once those emails are determined, every one of them must be individually read and reviewed for information exempt from disclosure, and information redacted if needed," Network 180 told Huff in an email.

Network 180 is Kent County’s community mental health authority, with a $154.3 million annual budget. County authorities such as Network 180 are the means through which most government-funded mental health services are allocated and delivered in Michigan. They are funded by a combination of federal, state and local dollars.

Network 180 didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

Huff said Tuesday the issue still has not been resolved.