April 7, 2010

Mr. Terrence S. Welch

Brown & Hofmeister, L.L.P.

Attorney for Town of Flower Mound

740 East Campbell Road, Suite 800

Richardson, Texas 75081

OR2010-04899

Dear Mr. Welch:

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# 375439.

The Town of Flower Mound (the "town"), which you represent, received a request for any and all communications that town staff and elected officials have had with several third parties from January 1, 2008 to the present. ⁽¹⁾ You state you are providing some information to the requestor. You claim some of the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.137 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information. ⁽²⁾

Initially, we note Exhibit 3 is not responsive to the instant request for information because it was created after the date the town received the request. This ruling will not address the non-responsive information, and the town need not release it in response to this request.

Section 552.137 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "an e-mail address of a member of the public that is provided for the purpose of communicating electronically with a governmental body," unless the member of the public consents to its release or the e-mail address is of a type specifically excluded by subsection (c). See Gov't Code § 552.137(a)-(c). The e-mail address in Exhibit 2 is not specifically excluded by section 552.137(c). As such, this e-mail address, which we have marked, must be withheld under section 552.137 of the Government Code, unless the owner of the e-mail address affirmatively consents to its release. See id. § 552.137(b). ⁽³⁾ The remaining responsive information must be released to the requestor.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information 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 information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General, toll free, at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

Amy L.S. Shipp

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

ALS/rl

Ref: ID# 375439

Enc. Submitted documents

cc: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. You inform us that the town contacted the requestor who clarified her request. See Gov't Code § 552.222(b) (governmental body may communicate with requestor for purpose of clarifying or narrowing request for information).

2. We understand Exhibits 4 and 5 were submitted for informational purposes only.

3. We note this office recently issued Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009), a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including an e-mail address of a member of the public under section 552.137 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

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