Open Records Request - 9/28/04
Request to Review Billing for Legal Fees
Note: This was a way
to see the costs associated with the current contract with City Attorney George
Staples. It would also show the cost of current litigation against the
city.
-------- Original Message --------
Dear Ms. Hutson:
This is a request under the Texas Open Records Act, chapter 552 of the
Government Code (formerly V.T.C.S. article 6252) as well as Article I, Sec. 8 of
the Texas Constitution, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,
the common law of the State of Texas and any statue providing for public access
to government information.
I request that I be sent copies of the following documents or, if there
are a large number, be permitted to inspect the following documents and receive
copies of the ones I would like:
All billing, invoices, request for payment or other such documents as
submitted to the City of North Richland Hills by City Attorney George Staples
and/or the law firm for which he works or controls. This request is
applicable only to such documents for the period of January 1, 2002 to the
present time.
All billing, invoices, request for payment or other such documents as
submitted to the City of North Richland Hills by any other lawyer or law firm
during the period of January 1, 2002 to the present time.
All correspondence of any nature between the City of North Richland Hills
and the above billing entities - relating to such billing - during the period
January 1, 2002 to the present time.
If you have any questions about the nature or scope of this request, please call
me at the phone number listed below. If you determine that all or some portion
of the information requested is excepted from required disclosure, I request
that you provide me with the portions of the requested information that are
public and reasonably segrable from that which you believe is excepted. If any
records are in active use or in storage, please certify this fact in writing and
set a date and hour within a reasonable time when the records will be available,
as required by section 552.221 of the Act. If you determine that all or some
portion of the information requested is excepted from required public disclosure
under a particular exception, I request that you advise me as to which
exceptions you believe apply. If you rely on previous determination, please
advise me of the applicable court decision or Attorney General's opinion. If
there is no such determination, please advise me of the request for such an
opinion, as required under section 552.301 of the Act, and a dated copy of your
letter to the Attorney General. I call your attention to section 522.353 of the
Act, which provides penalties for a failure to release public records. I am
prepared to pay reasonable costs for copying, within the guidelines set by
sections 552.261, 552.262, 552.263, 552.267, 552.268, 552.269.
I appreciate your attention to this and expect to hear from your office within
ten days.
Sincerely,
Ron C. West
Compliance: The City Secretary made arrangements
for me to review what were presented to be all billing files relating to the
above request. Subsequently, a part of the information was published
on this web site. Recent correspondence indicates that Charlotte L.
Staples, the daughter of Attorney George Staples is also employed by his law
firm and she also receives compensation for her services from our city.