VALPARAISO â While the mayor s office has the discretion to withhold data for a residential market study from City Councilman Robert Cotton, the state public access counselor said his office is unsure that this is the right course of action in this instance. Therefore, it requests the City reevaluate its decision to share the contents of the study with a city council member before its release to the public, Public Access Counselor Luke Britt said in his written opinion.
Cotton filed a complaint Dec. 28 with the public access counselor, claiming city administrators are wrongly denying him, as a council member, access to the data that has come in so far as part of a $50,000 taxpayer-funded study.