Open Records Request - 1/26/05 -
Request for Copies of Drafts of New Ordinances
or Ordinances to be Changed.
-------- 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:
1) A copy of any existing pending draft(s) of changes to existing
ordinances that are planned to be submitted for council consideration in the
next 45 days from the date of this request.
2) A copy of any existing pending draft(s) of any new ordinances that are
planned to be submitted for council consideration in the next 45 days from the
date of this request.
3) A copy of any written communication between any elected official and
any city employee, or between elected officials, requesting new city ordinance
preparation and/or changes to existing city ordinances. This request is
specifically applicable only to any item that exists under item 1 or item 2
above.
Clarification: This request is an attempt to allow citizen knowledge of pending
law changes in our city before they are submitted to council meetings. Since we
are not aware of any other vehicle to find such information, we are planning to
submit new open records requests every 15 days into the future. This is not a
request to release future or nonexistent information. It is a specific request
to identify only existing documents in whatever stage they are in, prior to the
final drafting that occurs upon submission to the council. This clarification
is presented so that you may develop a method to capture such documents in the
future to respond to these future open records requests. I believe that the
creation of new laws in our city must be opened to public view before such laws
are enacted.
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.
Thank you for your attention to this and I expect to hear from your office
within ten days.
Sincerely,
Ron C. West