Newspaper’s suit finds city in ‘technical’ violation

LAREDO — A district court judge ruled June 24 that the city “technically” violated the Texas Open Meetings Act during an Aug. 17, 2001 budget meeting, the Laredo Morning Times reported.

The judge said “it is almost impossible for me to say that this agenda would have given to the public what would be heard by the council.”

The Times and a local attorney sued the city, mayor and five council members claiming they violated the act by going into an unscheduled closed session during the meeting held nearly a year ago. At least three council members refused to go into the session.

After nearly a year of arbitration, both the newspaper and city filed motions for summary judgment seeking a ruling from the judge. While the judge said the meeting technically violated the act, “certainly the fact that they took no action and took no action in the meeting shows good faith.”

SA daily wants to block gag order in election day case

SAN ANTONIO — The Express-News filed a motion in federal court June 27 seeking to block a gag order proposed by the Bexar County Republican Party in the primary election day lawsuit.

The newspaper wants to ensure court proceedings remain open to the public in the case filed by residents who claimed their right to vote was violated during a voting mishap in the March primaries. More than 100 polling places were closed due to a lack of volunteers.

County GOP leaders asked the court to prevent the plaintiffs’ attorney from talking with the media.

Van Zandt editor files complaint against city

CANTON — The Van Zandt News July 11 filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General’s Open Government Division against the city of Grand Saline, citing the city’s apparent concealment of offense and incident reports from the newspaper.

The Van Zandt News has, for more than a decade, received the first pages of offense/incident reports without having to file open records requests with the city.

Over the past three months, however, the city has been releasing only selected reports. Editor Vince Leibowitz said the staff first noticed when reporter Connie Lee pointed out that the offense reports were not in sequence according to the numbers printed on the reports and as time progressed, the omissions became more egregious.

In June, the editor wrote the Grand Saline city administrator a letter including an open records request for the missing reports but received no response. The letter was followed up with phone calls also with no response.

After a second letter in July went unanswered, Leibowitz sent that letter and a formal complaint to the AG’s office.

Fire records prompt city to appeal opinion

KENNEDALE — The city will appeal an attorney general’s opinion that said it should release the results of an investigation into the fire department that preceded the resignation of three top officials.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram requested the records after three officials quit following an evaluation by the city manager.

One city councilman voted against seeking the appeal.

Bryan school chief will release candidate list 

BRYAN — The superintendent said he would release the names of potential candidates for a vacant school board spot after two weeks of withholding the list.

The Bryan/College Station Eagle filed two open records requests to get the candidates’ list. The district did release a list of 600-plus registered voters in the district but balked on the shorter list, which was created by the board and discussed at a meeting, saying that list was not produced by school administrators.

City pulls comment period over 2 talkers 

KILGORE — The mayor told two citizens they can no longer speak during the public comment portion of city commission meetings unless he approves the topic in advance, the Longview News Journal reported.

The pair has repeatedly addressed the commission about the morals and personnel issues of city staff as well as suggestions on collecting additional property tax.

The newspaper checked the last several months of agendas and found the public comment section had been a regular part of the meeting but the city in April removed it. The citizens claim the move violated their free speech rights.

Auditor’s attendance hinges on 3 guidelines

TYLER — The Attorney General’s Office ruled in a Smith County case that the county auditor could attend a commissioners court executive session to discuss litigation only under certain criteria.

The county must show: that the county auditor’s presence is necessary to the discussion, the auditor’s interests are not adversarial and the auditor’s presence is consistent with the attorney-client privilege.

A commissioner last fall questioned whether the auditor should be present at closed meetings, a practice she said had been going on for years.

Adult channel protesters gain access to records

GREENVILLE — The Attorney General’s Office ruled that the city cannot keep confidential certain documents relating to the city utility’s contracts with cable providers, including the Playboy Channel.

A citizens group, which opposes the city utility offering adult pay-per-view channels, filed open records requests relating to the providers relationship with the city utility, the Greenville Herald-Banner reported.

TV reporter wants city records on road

 EAGLE PASS — A television reporter who filed an open records request for documents relating to a city road project may get the information.

The city told the reporter it had received an attorney general’s opinion declaring the records could be withheld, the Eagle Pass News Guide reported.

However, after the reporter filed a complaint, the AG’s office told the city it could not use a ruling from last year to apply to the current case. The AG said it had never received a letter from the city asking for a ruling on the reporter’s request.

“The easiest ways to resolve these open records complaints is to provide the information that was requested unless information is confidential by law,” the AG letter said.

The AG’s letter also asked the city to respond within five days.

Hays County continues to fight meeting ruling

SAN MARCOS — The Hays County Commissioners Court will again challenge a court decision that found the body violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.

The county body voted to spend an additional $7,500 for outside legal counsel to appeal a district judge’s ruling that the court broke the law by altering a road plan after it had been approved.

So far the county has spent more than $100,000 fighting two rulings involving open meetings complaints, one that went all the way to the Texas Supreme Court.

Fort Worth school holds closed session on restructuring

 FORT WORTH — The validity of a closed session by the school board trustees here was questioned as a possible violation of the Open Meetings Act.

The school board went into closed session to discuss the “reorganization of maintenance function,” according to the wording on the agenda. The agenda did not cite an exemption that would allow the subject to be discussed behind closed doors, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

The district said the session dealt primarily with maintenance personnel involved in the restructuring.