It’s Sunshine Week, the annual observance where the media touts the importance of public records and transparency. Often that takes the form of stories highlighting situations where some entity is refusing to release records.

But here on the Raleigh city government beat, I don’t have much to complain about. In other communities, I’ve had to make multiple phone calls to get a simple town council meeting agenda. Raleigh has those available online for nearly every elected or appointed board you can think of.

The city has won awards for open government, and leaders are working on a new Open Raleigh platform to have more data online.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how forthcoming city officials here can be with records. Last week, I was trying to confirm a union group’s claim that Raleigh’s Civil Service Commission – the appointed board that hears employee appeals – almost never rules in favor of an employee.

I expected the board’s actions to be largely secretive – the blanket “it’s a confidential personnel matter” response often provided by government agencies. But after a quick call to the city clerk’s office, assistant deputy clerk Ralph Puccini had five years of meeting minutes in my email inbox within the hour.

That allowed our story to have solid facts, in turn allowing our readers to have an informed debate on whether or not the Civil Service Commission needs an overhaul.

The UNC Health Care System appears to be taking a more aggressive stance in its ongoing dispute with WakeMed over the future of Rex Healthcare.

Last week, the UNC Health Care System, which owns Rex, sent a public records request to WakeMed asking for minutes from Board of Directors meetings, agendas for those meetings and annual financial audits for the hospital system.

UNC wants documents dating back to Jan. 1, 2009.

WakeMed made a public records request of UNC last winter, seeking records such as the university system’s correspondence with Wake County doctors.

This latest request by UNC is further evidence that the dispute between the two hospital systems shows no signs of dissipating.

In mid-September, UNC Football Coach Butch Davis voiced serious concerns about the ongoing investigation into wrongdoing in his program and the affect it was having on suspended players.

In an email to Chancellor Holden Thorp and Athletic Director Dick Baddour, the coach wrote on Sept. 22 said the 16 players sidelined during the investigation were growing angry and frustrated — and perhaps, depressed.

The Garner Citizen is reporting on a little-known aspect of the public records law: Governments are supposed to keep tabs on their electronic records.

The newspaper, though, said in a recent report that "A large swath of North Carolina cities and towns have not been following a state law designed to grant easier access to public records after having more than a decade to comply."

Towns say it's onerous to keep up. But a media lawyer points out that the public needs to know what they have.

President Obama promised that his administration would be more open and transparent. So far, he's getting mixed reviews. One suggestion: don't bar the public from a session on improving access to public records.

When State Board of Elections Chairman Larry Leake introduced a document outlining Democrats elections plans, he said the document might never be made public.

The document outlines a plan by the N.C. Democratic Party to coordinate get-out-the-vote and other efforts to push a full slate of Democrats.

The News & Observer has requested access to the document, which has been submitted to the board and, the newspaper argues, should be a public record.

Board member Bob Cordle, in his questions to former party official Scott Falmlen, noted that Republicans would want to see the document as much as newspapers.

Cordle told Falmlen that the Democratic Party would have to make a show of what information needed to be kept secret.

"You're going to have to show us what's proprietary and what's considered to be proprietary," Cordle said.