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The credit for that openness and adherence to state Sunshine Laws goes to one or two city officials — and not to the system the city actually has in place to allegedly be transparent.

For those unfamiliar with this bureau’s pursuit, let’s recount:

After a tornado killed five people and caused an estimated $1.6 billion in damages in the city, we discovered that the City Emergency Management Agency was out of the office when the storm hit — hosting a communications workshop that was not related to immediate emergency-response training.

This and other possible missteps by the city emergency-response system spurred new Mayor Cara Spencer to place CEMA chief Sarah Russell on paid leave while the city searched for her replacement.

On the day that was reported in the Post-Dispatch, May 22, this bureau requested more information about CEMA under the Missouri Sunshine Law.

We wanted to know three things:

• How many of the department’s five employees were at the “communicationsâ€� workshop?
• What was the department’s organizational chart?
• Did the department spend any money in hosting the get-together?

Given that the city was still grappling with the immediate fallout of a devastating storm, the request was put on the back burner, and no attention was paid to it for a solid month.

But after that month, it became apparent that the city counselor’s office — the legal department charged with making sure the city complies with the law in its administrative duties — had basically established a robo-reply system for records requests.

The replies, going back to one week after the initial request had been made, were nothing more than template responses stating that more time was needed to fulfill the request.

The only change in the robo-reply was the date, which the city counselor’s office would just kick down the road a bit.

For example, an email on June 25 said the information would not be available until July 2 at the earliest. Then, on July 2, a robo-reply said the earliest date would be July 16.

At this point, it must be noted that this little struggle pales in comparison to some that other reporters at this newspaper have endured.

For three years running, getting information about city employees pay — a request that lies at the heart of any law about public access to government records — has taken more than three months. (Most every other local government entity provides the records within two weeks.)

Part of the foot-dragging in the name of transparency can be laid at the door of former Mayor Tishaura O. Jones. Her choice for city counselor was Sheena Hamilton, who seemed to view transparency as a four-letter word.

Hamilton’s stranglehold on open government, abetted by records request manager Joseph Sims, managed to irk not only the media but also social activists and city aldermen.

But even with an administration change that saw Hamilton and Sims check out, the city still seemed to use the same system of kicking the can down the road when record requests were made.

The only change apparently was that instead of getting robo-replies from Sims, requesters now get them from a new coordinator, Camesha McFowland.

So finally, after two months of zero transparency on this matter, it became clear this bureau would have to contact Spencer’s press office directly — a remedy not available to the average city resident looking to find some sunshine about city operations.

Sure enough, the spokesperson made some calls, and within 48 hours, the information that was first requested on May 22 finally was delivered on July 17.

But just to make sure the absurdity of the city’s transparency system does not get lost in the shuffle, the city counselor’s office sent a robo-reply on July 16 — stating that the earliest the info would be available was July 23.

The most frustrating part of this whole exercise is that the requested information fit onto one sheet of paper. For the record, here it is:

The department had five employees at the time, with three being at the communications workshop and the other two at an American Rescue Plan Act workshop. Also, the department spent no city funds to have the event.

Translation: These facts, already reported but now verified, would not have generated another news story.

And just to wrap up the whole matter, this bureau called the city counselor’s office on both Friday and Monday, looking for an explanation for the delay, or to possibly even find out if changes were in the works.

Both days, after welcoming me to the city counselor’s office, the robo-answerer told me that for questions about existing records requests, “please press 4.� So “4� was pressed.

That connected to a line that rang four times before another robo-replier told me: “The mailbox of the person you’re calling is full and cannot accept new messages. Please try again later.�

And then it robo-hung up on me.