October 6, 2011

Ms. Patricia A. Adams

Prosecutor

Law Office of Patricia A. Adams

2281 Masch Brand Road, Suite 500

Denton, Texas 76207

OR2011-14500

Dear Ms. Adams:

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# 433790.

The City of Gainesville (the "city"), which you represent, received a request for training records, disciplinary records, citizen complaints, the current salary and pay increases or decreases, and attendance records of a named animal control officer. You claim the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽¹⁾

Initially, we note the submitted information contains the requested salary information of the employee at issue. Section 552.022(a)(2) of the Government Code provides the name, sex, ethnicity, salary, title, and dates of employment of each employee and officer of a governmental body are expressly public under section 552.022 of the Government Code and may not be withheld unless it is confidential under other law. See Gov't Code § 552.022(a)(2). Although you assert this information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code, this section is a discretionary exception to disclosure that protects a governmental body's interests. See Open Records Decision No. 177 (1977) (governmental body may waive statutory predecessor to section 552.108). Therefore, section 552.108 does not constitute other law for purposes of section 552.022(a)(2). Accordingly, the city may not withhold the salary information, which we have marked, under section 552.108, but instead must release it to the requestor.

You assert the remaining information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. Section 552.108(a) excepts from disclosure "[i]nformation held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime . . . if: (1) release of the information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime[.]" Generally, a governmental body claiming section 552.108 must reasonably explain how and why the release of the requested information would interfere with law enforcement. See Gov't Code §§ 552.108(a)(1), (b)(1), .301(e)(1)(A); see also Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). You state the requested information is related to a pending a criminal prosecution in the city's municipal court. Furthermore, you state the personnel information pertains to the animal control officer who issued the citation that is the basis for the prosecution at issue and indicate the information could be used to impeach the credibility of the officer's testimony at trial. Based on these representations, we conclude the release of the remaining information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. See Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975) (court delineates law enforcement interests that are present in active cases), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curiam, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976). Therefore, the city may withhold the remaining information under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code.

To conclude, the city must release the information marked under section 552.022(a)(2) of the Government Code. The city may withhold the remaining information pursuant to section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code.

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,

James L. Coggeshall

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JLC/ag

Ref: ID# 433790

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We assume the "representative sample" of records submitted to this office is truly representative of the requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision Nos. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). This open records letter does not reach, and therefore does not authorize the withholding of, any other requested records to the extent those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office.

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