December 3, 2007

Mr. Leonard V. Schneider
Ross, Banks, May, Cron & Cavin, PC
City of Seabrook
2 Riverway, Suite 700
Houston, Texas 775056-1918

OR2007-15829

Dear Mr. Schneider:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 296101.

The City of Seabrook (the "city"), which you represent, received a request for information pertaining to a specified property. ⁽¹⁾

You state that the city will release some of the submitted information. You claim that the remaining submitted information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101, 552.103, 552.107, 552.111, and 552.137 of the Government Code. ⁽²⁾ We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Initially, we note that the request at issue requests "any and all documents relating, indicating, and/or pertaining" to the specified property. The city has submitted for our review minutes of the August 14, 2007 special meeting of the city council. To the extent any additional information responsive to the request existed on the date the city received this request, we assume the city has released it. If the city has not released any such records, it must do so at this time. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(a),.302; see also Open Records Decision No. 664 (2000) (if governmental body concludes that no exceptions apply to requested information, it must release information as soon as possible).

Second, we note that the submitted information consists of a transcription of an open meeting of the Seabrook City Council. Section 551.022 of the Open Meetings Act, chapter 551 of the Government Code, expressly provides that the "minutes and tape recordings of an open meeting are public records and shall be available for public inspection and copying on request to the governmental body's chief administrative officer or the officer's designee." Gov't Code § 551.022. Information that is specifically made public by statute may not be withheld from the public under any of the exceptions to public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. See, e.g., Open Records Decision Nos. 544 (1990), 378 (1983), 161 (1977), 146 (1976). Therefore, the city may not withhold the submitted transcript under the claimed exceptions and must release this information to the requestor. As our ruling is dispositive, we need not address your remaining arguments.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular records at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other records or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For example, governmental bodies are prohibited from asking the attorney general to reconsider this ruling. Gov't Code § 552.301(f). If the governmental body wants to challenge this ruling, the governmental body must file suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such a challenge, the governmental body must file suit within 10 calendar days. Id. § 552.353(b)(3), (c). If the governmental body does not appeal this ruling and the governmental body does not comply with it, then both the requestor and the attorney general have the right to file suit against the governmental body to enforce this ruling. Id. § 552.321(a).

If this ruling requires the governmental body to release all or part of the requested information, the governmental body is responsible for taking the next step. Based on the statute, the attorney general expects that, upon receiving this ruling, the governmental body will either release the public records promptly pursuant to section 552.221(a) of the Government Code or file a lawsuit challenging this ruling pursuant to section 552.324 of the Government Code. If the governmental body fails to do one of these things, then the requestor should report that failure to the attorney general's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. The requestor may also file a complaint with the district or county attorney. Id. § 552.3215(e).

If this ruling requires or permits the governmental body to withhold all or some of the requested information, the requestor can challenge that decision by suing the governmental body. Id. § 552.321(a); Texas Dep't of Pub. Safety v. Gilbreath, 842 S.W.2d 408, 411 (Tex. App.-- Austin 1992, no writ).

Please remember that under the Act the release of information triggers certain procedures for costs and charges to the requestor. If records are released in compliance with this ruling, be sure that all charges for the information are at or below the legal amounts. Questions or complaints about over-charging must be directed to Hadassah Schloss at the Office of the Attorney General at (512) 475-2497.

If the governmental body, the requestor, or any other person has questions or comments about this ruling, they may contact our office. Although there is no statutory deadline for contacting us, the attorney general prefers to receive any comments within 10 calendar days of the date of this ruling.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Luttrall

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JL/eeg

Ref: ID# 296101

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Mr. Brett White

Waldron & Schneider, LLP

15150 Middlebrook Drive

Houston, Texas 77058

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note that the city received clarification regarding this request. See Gov't Code § 552.222(b) (governmental body may communicate with requestor for purpose of clarifying or narrowing request for information); see also Open Records Decision No. 663 (1999) (discussing tolling of deadlines during period in which governmental body is awaiting clarification).

2. You also raise section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 552.107 on the basis of the attorney-client privilege. However, section 552.101 does not encompass the attorney-client privilege or other exceptions found in the Act. See Open Records Decision No. 676 at 1-3 (2002).

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