Despite Push for Secrecy, Sketch of Privately Funded Mural is Public Record, But Should We Show It?

The artist set to work on a downtown Iowa City mural wants the planned image to be a secret, but the state's public records law says otherwise.

City councilors signed off on the project -- which will be funded by local developer Marc Moen -- at Tuesday night's Iowa City City Council meeting. The project's artist wanted the sketch of the planned mural to be kept under wraps, according to the Press-Citizen:

Moen said the touch of mystery behind the mural has been met with a “firestorm” of flack from the public.

“It’s not a controversial image, it’s based on solidarity,” Moen said. “When (Sotillo) made that request, I thought it was a reasonable request.”

But city councilors asked to see a sketch of the mural. Because the sketch was part of an official city council meeting, state law says the document has to be open to the public. On Wednesday morning, city staff complied with an Iowa City Patch records request for the sketch, which shows a series of more than a dozen interlocking arms.

Now that local media -- and anyone who emails city staff -- have access to the mural, should we disseminate it or should we comply with the artist's wish to keep it secret until the mural is unveiled?