0360THE CITY OF SOUTHLAKE, TEXAS
ORDINANCE NO. ~
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SOUTHLAKE,
TEXAS, RELATING TO THE ACCESS BY THE PUBLIC
TO INFORMATION IN THE CUSTODY OF THE CITY OF
SOUTHLAKE; PROVIDING DEFINITIONS; PROVIDING
FOR THE DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE
CUSTODIAN OF PUBLIC RECORDS; PROVIDING
PROCEDURES FOR THE APPLICATION FOR PUBLIC
INFORF~kT I ON; PROVIDING FOR REQUESTING
ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINIONS; PROVIDING FOR A
WqtIT OF F0kNDAMUS; PROVIDING FOR THE COST OF
COPIES AND CHARGES FOR ACCESS TO PUBLIC
RECORDS; PROVIDING FOR A BOND FOR PAYMENT OF
COSTS FOR PREPARATION OF PUBLIC RECORDS OR
CASH pREPAYMENT; PROVIDING THAT REQUESTS
REQUIRING MORE THAN TEN ( 10 ) HOURS TO
PRODUCE SHALL BE FORWARDED TO THE CITY
COUNCIL; PROVIDING FOR ELECTION ON
DISCLOSURE; PROVIDING A PENALTY OF FINE NOT
TO EXCEED THE SUM OF TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS
($200.00) FOR EACH OFFENSE AND A SEPARATE
OFFENSE SHALL BE DEEMED COM~ITTED UPON EACH
DAY DURING OR ON WHICH A VIOLATION OCCURS;
PROV I D I NG FOR THE I NTERPRETAT I ON OF TH I S
ORDINANCE; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE.
WHEREAS, the people, in delegating authority, do not give
their public servants the right to decide what is good for the
people to know and what is not good for them to know, rather,
the people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain
control over the instruments they have created.
WHEREAS, it is the policy of the City that all persons
are, unless otherwise expressly provided by law, at all times
entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs
of government and the official acts of those who represent them
as public officials and employees.
WHEREAS, it is the policy of the City of Southlake to
provide suitable copies ~f the public records within a
reasonable period of time after the date copies were requested.
WHEREAS, due to the increased cost of labor and materials
it is necessary for the City to charge a fee for access to
public records maintained by the City.
WHEREAS, the fee charged to a person requesting public
records shall be reasonable and not excessive and the City
shall make every effort to charge a fee that matches the actual
cost of providing the records.
WHEREAS, the City, pursuant to Art. 6252-17a, Section 13,
Vernon's Ann. Civ. Stat. is hereby promulgating reasonable
rules and regulations by which public records may be inspected
efficiently, safely, and without delay.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SOUTHLAKE, TEXAS.
Section 1.
Definitions. For the purposes of this ordinance, the
following terms, phrases, words and their derivations
shall have the meaning given herein. When not
inconsistent with the context, words used in the present
tense include the future, words in the plural number
include the singular number, and words in the singular
number include the plural number. The word "shall" is
always mandatory and not merely directory.
a) "City" shall mean the City of Southlake,
Texas;
b) "Custodian of public records" shall mean
the City Secretary of the City of Southlake;
c) "Nonpublic information" shall mean
information collected, assembled, or maintained by
the City pursuant to law or ordinance or in
connection with the transaction of official
business which is not available to the public,
including the following categories:
1) information deemed confidential by
law, either Constitutional, statutory, or
by judicial decision;
2) information in personnel files, the
disclosure of which would constitute a
clearly unwarranted invasion of personal
privacy; provided, however, that all
information in personnel files of an
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indi~gidual employee within the City is to
be made available to that individual
employee or his designated representative
as is public information under this
ordinance;
3) information relating to litigation
of a criminal or civil nature and
settlement negotiations, to which the City
is or may be, a party, or to which an
officer or employee of the City, as
consequence of his office or employment, is
or may be a party, that the Attorney
General or the City Attorney has determined
should be withheld from public inspection.
For purposes of this subsection, the City
is considered to be a party to litigation
of a criminal nature until the applicable
statute of limitations has expired o£ until
the defendant has exhausted all appellate
and post conviction remedies in state and
federal court.
4) information which, if released,
would give advantage to competitors or
bidders;
5) information pertaining to the
location of real or personal property for
public purposes prior to public
announcement of the project, and
information pertaining to appraisals or
purchase price of real or personal property
for public purposes prior to the formal
award of contracts therefor;
6) drafts and working papers involved
in the preparation of proposed legislation;
7) matters in which the duty of the
Attorney General of Texas or the City
Attorney, to his client, pursuant to the
Rules and Canons of Ethics of the State Bar
of Texas are prohibited from disclosure, or
which by order of a Court are prohibited
from disclosure;
8) records of law 9nforcement agencies
and prosecutors that deal with the
detection, investigation and prosecution of
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crime and the internal records and
notations of such law enforcement agencies
and prosecutors which are maintained for
internal use in matters relating to law
enforcement and prosecution;
9) private correspondence and
communications of an elected office holder
relating to matters the disclosure of which
would constitute an invasion of privacy;
10) trade secrets and commercial or
financial information obtained from a
person and privileged or confidential by
statute or judicial decision;
11) inter-agency or intra-agency
memorandums or letters which would not be
available by law to a party other than one
in litigation with the City;
12) information contained in or related
to examination, operating or condition
reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for
the use of an agency responsible for the
regulation or supervision of financial
institutions, and/or securities, as that
term is defined in the Texas Securities Act;
13) geological and geophysical
information and data including maps
concerning wells, except information filed
in connection with an application or
proceeding before any agency or an electric
log confidential under Subchapter M,
Natural Resources Code;
14) the home addresses and home
telephone numbers of each official and
employee of a governmental body except as
provided for in Section I of this
ordinance, and of peace officers of the
City;
15) photographs that depict a
officer ~f the City or a security
commissioned under section
Education Code, the
endanger the life or
officer unless:
peace
officer
51.212,
release of wh%ch would
physical safety of the
i) the officer is under indictment
or charged with an offense by
information; or
ii) the officer is a party in a
fire or police civil service hearing
or a case in arbitration; or
iii) the photograph is introduced
as evidence in a judicial proceeding.
The custodian of public records may make a
photograph exempt under this subsection
public, provided the officer gives written
consent to the disclosure.
d) "Open Records Act" shall mean Art. 6252-17a
of Vernon's Rev. Civ. Stat.
e) "Public information" shall mean all
information collected, assembled or maintained by
the City pursuant to law or ordinance or in
connection with the transaction of official
business, including the following:
1) Reports, audits, evaluations and
investigations made of, for, or by,
governmental bodies upon completion;
2) the names, sex, ethnicity, salaries,
title and dates of employment of all
employees and officers of the City;
3) information in any account, voucher
or contract dealing with the receipt or
expenditure of public or other funds by the
City not otherwise made confidential by law;
4) the names of every official and the
final record of voting on all proceedings
in the City;
5) all working papers, research
material and information used to make
estimates of the need for, or expenditure
of, public funds of taxes by the City, upon
complet{on of such estimates;
6) the name, place of business, and the
name of the City to which local sa]es and
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use taxes are credited, if any, for the
named person, of persons reporting or
paying sales and use taxes under the
Limited Sales, Excise and Use Tax Act;
7) descriptions of the City's central
and field organization and the established
places at which, the employees (and in the
case of a uniformed service, the members)
from whom, and the methods whereby, the
public may obtain information, make
submittals or requests, or obtain de-
cisions;
8) statements of the general course
and method by which the City's functions
are channeled and determined, including the
nature and requirements of all formal and
informal procedures available;
9) rules of procedure, descriptions of
forms available or the places at which
forms may be obtained, and instructions as
to the scope and contents of all papers,
reports or examinations;
10) substantive rules of general
applicability adopted as authorized by law,
and statements of general policy or
interpretations of general applicability
formulated and adopted by the City;
11) each amendment, revisions or repeal
of 7, 8, 9 and 10 above;
12) final opinions including concurring
and dissenting opinions, as well as orders,
made in the adjudication of cases;
13) statements of policy and
interpretations which have been adopted by
the City;
14) administrative staff manuals and
instructions to staff that affect a member
of the p~blic;
15) information currently regarded by City
policy as open to the public.
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Duties
f) "Public records" shall mean the portion
of all documents, writings, letters, memoranda,
or other written, printed, typed, copied, or
developed materials which contain public
information.
and Responsibilities of the Custodian of Public
Records. The City Secretary or her designee shall be
the custodian of public records and shall be responsible
for the preservation and care of the public records of
the City. It shall be her duty to see that public
records are made available for public inspection and
copying. She shall be responsible for protecting and
preserving the public records from deterioration,
alteration, mutilation, loss, removal or destruction and
see to it that the public records are repaired, renovated
or rebound when necessary to preserve them. When public
records are no longer currently in use, it shall be
within the discretion of the City to determine a period
of time for which said records shall give, grant and
extend to all persons requesting public records all
reasonable comfort and facility for the full exercise of
the right granted by the Open Records Act.
Application for Public Information.
1) All persons requesting information from the
custodian of public records shall supply proper
identification and describe with specificity those
documents being requested.
2) The custodian of public records may make inquiry
of any person who requests or applies for inspection or
copying of public records to establish whether the
custodian is authorized under Section 1 E 5, 6 and 7 of
this ordinance to refuse to honor the request for records.
3) On application for public information to the
custodian of public records by any person, the custodian
shall promptly produce such information for inspection or
duplication, or both, in the offices of the custodian of
public records. If the information is not in active use
or in storage, and therefore, not available at the time a
person asks to examine it, the custodian shall certify
this fact in writing ~o the applicant and set a date and
hour within a reasonable time when the record will be
available for the exercise of the right given by the Open
Records Act.
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4) No person shall remove original copies of public
records from the office of the custodian of public
records.
5) A person requesting public information must
complete the examination of the information within 10
days after the date the custodian of the information
makes it available to the person.
6) The custodian of public records shall extend the
initial examination period by an additional 10 days if,
within the initial period, the person requesting the
information files with the custodian of public records a
written request for additional time. The custodian of
public records shall extend an additional examination
period by another 10 days if, within the additional
period the person requesting the information files with
th~ custodian a written request for more additional time.
The time during which a person may examine
information may be interrupted by the custodian if the
information is needed for use by the governmental body.
The period of interruption shall not be considered to be
a part of the time during which the person may examine
the information.
Request for Attorney General Opinions. If the custodian
of public records receives a written request for
information which he considers to be within one of the
exceptions stated in Section A(c) of this ordinance, but
there has been no previous determination that it falls
within one of the exceptions, the custodian of public
records within a reasonable time, no later than ten (10)
days, after receiving a written request for the records
shall request a decision from the Attorney General to
determine whether the information is within the
exception. The specific information requested shall be
supplied to the Attorney General but shall not be
disclosed until a final determination has been made.
Writ of Mandamus. If the custodian of public records
refuses to comply with Section C(2) of this ordinance, or
to supply public information or information which the
Attorney General has determined to be a public record,
the person requesting the information or the Attorney
General may seek a mandamus compelling the custodian of
public records to mike the information available for
public inspection.
0128c
Cost of Copies and Charqes for Access to Public Records.
!) All charges made for access to public records
comprised in any form other than up to standard sized
pages or in computer record banks, microfilm records, or
other similar record keeping systems, shall be set after
consultation between the custodian of public records and
the State Board of Control, giving due consideration to
the expenses involved in providing the public records
making every effort to match the charges with the actual
cost of providing the records. The custodian of the
records shall make reasonably efficient use of each page
of public records so as not to cause excessive costs for
the reproduction of public records.
2) The cost of obtaining a standard or legal size
photographic reproduction shall be in an amount that
reasonably includes all costs related to reproducing the
record, including costs of materials, labor and overhead
unless the request is for fifty (50) pages or less of
readily available information.
3) Fees pursuant to this ordinance shall be charged
according to the schedules contained in Section F(3) for
services rendered in responding to requests for the
City's records. Fees shall not be charged where they
would amount, in the aggregate, for a request or series
of related requests, to less than $3.00. Ordinarily,
fees shall not be charged if the records requested are
not found, or if all of the records located are withheld
pursuant to Section A(c) of this ordinance. However, if
the time expended in processing the request is
substantial, and if the requestor has been notified of
the estimated cost and has been specifically advised that
it cannot be determined in advance whether any records
will be made available, fees may be charged.
4) For the services listed below expended in locating
or making available records or copies thereof, the
following charges shall be assessed:
a) Copies. The cost for copies of
noncertified photographic reproductions of
pages up to legal size shall be (maximum of
ten (10) copies will be supplied) $0.55 for
the first page and $0.15 for each
additional page.
b) Clerical searches. The charge for
access to public records in a form other
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than up to standard sized pages, such as
computer record banks, microfilm or
microfiche records, or other similar record
keeping systems shall be, for each one
quarter hour spent by clerical personnel in
excess of the first quarter hour in
searching for and producing requested
records,
c) Certification.
true copies, $1.00.
For certification of
d) Attestation. For attestation under
the seal of the City of Southlake, $3.00.
e)
Nonroutine, nonclerical searches.
Where a search cannot be performed by
clerical Fersonnel, for example, where the
task of ~etermining which records fall
within a request and collecting them
requires the time of professional or
managerial personnel, and where the amount
of time that must be expended in the search
and collection of the requested records by
such higher level personnel is substantial,
the search may be made at a rate in excess
of the clerical rate, namely for each one
quarter hour spent in excess of the first
quarter hour by such higher level personnel
in searching for a requested record,
$ ~_~,oo This subsection shall apply to
charges made for access to public records
comprised in any form other than up to
standard sized papers, such as, in computer
record banks, microfilm or microfiche
records, or other similar record keeping
systems.
f) Examination and related tasks in
screeninq records. No charge shall be made
for time spent in resolving legal or policy
issues affecting access to records of known
contents. In addition, no charge shall be
made for the time involved in examining
records in connection with determining
whether ~hey are exempt from disclosure.
g) Other charqes. When a response to a
request requires services or materials
other than the common ones described in
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Bond
Section F(3) (a) through F(3) (f) of this
ordinance the direct cost of such services
or materials to the government may be
charged, but only if the request has been
notified of such cost before it is
incurred; and only after consultation with
the State Board of Control.
for Pa~;ment of Costs for Preparation of Public
Records or Cash Prepayment. If the custodian of public
records determines that a request is unduly costly and
its production would cause undue hardship to the City if
the costs are not paid, as a condition precedent to the
preparation of such record he may require either: a) a
bond for payment of costs for the preparation of such
public records, or b) a prepayment in cash of the
anticipated costs for the preparation of such records.
Requests Requiring More than Ten (10) Hours to Produce.
If the custodian of public records determines that a
request will require more than ten (10) employee hours to
produce, she shall forward said request to the City
Council which shall determine the best method said
records may be inspected and/or reproduced giving due
regard to ensuring that the public records are produced
efficiently, safely and without undue delay.
Election on Disclosure.
a) An employee and each official of the City shall
choose whether or not to allow public access to the
information in the custody of the City relating to the
official's or employee's home address and home telephone
number. Each official and employee shall state that
person's choice to the City Secretary in a signed writing
not later than the 14th day after the date on which the
employee begins the employment with the City, or the
official is elected or appointed. If the official's or
the employee's choice is to not allow public access to
the information, the information shall not be disclosed.
If an employee or official fails to report within the
period established by this section, the information is
subject to public access.
b) If, during th~ course of the employment or the
term of the office the employee or official wishes to
close or open public access to the information, that
individual may request in writing that the City Secretary
of the City close or open access, as the case may be, to
the information.
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Penalty. Any person who wilfully destroys, mutilates,
removes without permission as provided herein, or alters
public records shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon
conviction shall be fined in a sum not to exceed Two
Hundred Dollars ($200.00) for each offense and a separate
offense shall be deemed committed upon each day during or
on which a violation occurs. This penalty provision
shall not preclude the City from its other remedies
available at law or in equity.
Interpretation of this Ordinance.
a) This ordinance does not prohibit the City from
voluntary making part or all of its records available to
the public, unless expressly prohibited by law; provided
that such records shall then be available to any person.
b) This ordinance does not authorize the withholding
of information or limit the availability of public
records to the public, except as expressly so provided.
c) This ordinance does not give authority to withhold
information from individual members or committees of the
Legislature of the State of Texas to use for legislative
purposes.
d) Nothing in this ordinance shall be construed to
entitle any person, as of right, to any services,
materials or the disclosure of any record to which such
person is not entitled under the Open Records Act.
Section 2. Severability. If any section, article,
paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase or word in this ordinance,
or application thereto any person or circumstances is held
invalid or unconstitutional by a Court of competent
jurisdiction, such holding shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this ordinance, and the City Council
hereby declares it would have passed such remaining portions of
the ordinance despite such invalidity, which remaining portions
shall remain in full force and effect.
PASSED AND APPROVED
198L·
ATTEST:
~ty Secretary,
City of Southlake, Texas
[SEAL]
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
City Attorney, w ~.
City of Southlake, Texas
First Reading:
Second Reading:
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