City of Savannah facing lawsuit over public records requests

Yahoo

09-04-2025

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – The City of Savannah is being sued for alleged failure to comply with open records requests related to public safety concerns at Housing Authority of Savannah properties.
The complaint from the Mance law firm obtained by WSAV lists Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, the city's alderman, and the city attorney as defendants in the case.
The complaint cites the defendants for, 'failure to timely provide public records in response to a lawful open records request.'
'The idea is, as the name suggests, that the public should have a preview into the dark places of government and should be able to get documents and information about the goings on of government relatively freely and without any obstructions,' Chad Mance, Owner of the Mance law firm, said.
The Georgia Open Records Act is used by journalists, attorneys, and members of the general public to obtain records from public agencies.
However, in this case, Mance said the City of Savannah has not been complying.
'We asked repeatedly for certain records over a number of years, and we believe there were a number of obstructions that were introduced in the process that should have never been present, and we have reason to believe that that may have been done to others as well,' Mance said.
According to the complaint, the alleged obstructions include failure to provide timely access to public records, wrongful withholding of public records, and frustrating access to records.
'We sent a number of letters related to criminal activity, crime, and governmental findings in connection with that over years and years and years. Instead of getting met with complete productions or descriptions that were adequate of documents that existed or did not exist within a reasonable amount of time, we either were made to wait or had partial productions most of the time,' Mance said.
Details of records requested by the Mance firm go back 5 years. They include incident reports, crime data, surveillance footage, and documentation of crime data and police activity around certain Housing Authority properties.
'There's a delicate balance between volume and expediency of disclosure to the public. What we want, is we want accountability and transparency,' Mance said.
WSAV reached out to the City of Savannah for comment on this lawsuit and a spokesperson said, 'The city does not comment on active or pending litigation.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.