PIRs on Public Information Restrictions Show

A Texas Public Information Handbook stated:

Texans have the right to see how their government is spending their tax dollars and exercising the powers they have granted it. That knowledge is essential to preserving the rule of law, protecting the democratic process, and defending the liberty we all cherish. The Public Information Act is a critical protection for that right

The December 13th background packet stated "San Angelo City Council wishes to establish a policy" restricting citizen access to public information requests.  The packet was released on December 8th which left insufficient time for a citizen to research the issue before Council made its decision.

I had not heard Council discuss this topic in any strategic planning session or at any City Council meeting.  In what deliberative public forum did Council express this wish?  They hadn't expressed such a desire prior to the release of the meeting background packet on December 8th. 

Public information requests revealed two people drove the effort to limit citizen access to public information to 36 staff hours in any fiscal year.  City Councilman Tommy Hiebert began lobbying in 2018 for a change in state law to allow a hard stop at the 36 hour limit.  City Clerk Julia Antilley supported Hiebert's lobbying efforts.

City Council-member Tommy Hiebert wrote staff on August 21, 2018

Just to be certain I understand the request is to strengthen HB3107 as written and to add to that existing statute ... if they use 36+ hours of staff time in a fiscal year they then can be labeled vexatious and no further requests made for that fiscal year, correct?

Should the city council simply pass an ordinance stipulating the 36 hours rather than codifying it into state law? Or is there a matter for the greater good that if the state would simply state any municipality receiving requests totaling more the 36 hours that person is finished for the remainder of that fiscal year?

Deputy City Clerk Julia Antilley replied that day:

As currently written in Texas, once a requestor is labelled vexatious they can be charged for additional requests. For our office, charging an additional fee does not help. We would propose that once a requestor is labeled vexatious (after using 36+ hours of staff time within a fiscal year) they are unable to make future requests until the next fiscal year.

One week later Hiebert contacted Rep. Drew Darby's office with a request:

...was wanting to see if Drew would be open to strengthening HB 3107 that deals with vexatious open records requests. Vexatious open record requests are consuming more and more staff time. What is currently allowed is to charge for requests. While it is helpful to be able to charge, the real issue is the staff time consumed by vexatious requests. 

In order to deal with the growing time component, it would be most helpful to have the law state after 30-35 hours of staff time which has been consumed by the vexatious requests of one individual, that specific individual could no longer make any open records requests for the remainder of the year. 

If you might need further info or have questions, please feel free to call me.

Darby's office shared their phone number with Councilman Hiebert.  The state of Texas is yet to pass the hard 36 hour limit requested by Hiebert and Antilley. 

The rationale for approving the restriction on public information came down to staff time.  City Council heard from staff last month:

“If these numbers continue going up and we don’t do anything about it, at some point we’ll need more staffing to assist with this ...” -- City Manager Daniel Valenzuela 

“The amount it would save in staff time would far exceed the $5,000.” -- Julia Antilley

“This has been on our radar since 2017 but until recently we were unable to track each individual request and so we were unable to declare anyone vexatious.” -- Julia Antilley 

City Clerk Julia Antilley worked with public information vendor GovQA and her counterpart in Pharr to craft this restriction:

I’m going to try to get calendar year adopted by Council before year end since we have missed this fiscal year! -- Julia Antilley e-mail on 10-21-22 

… it’s good to see you adopted the ordinance mid-year…hoping we can do the same. -- Julia Antilley e-mail on 10-21-22 

“As soon as I get the proposal, I will send to SHI so they can provide you with the quote for the subrequests cost.” – Senior Customer Success Consultant GOVQA e-mail on 10-21-22

…GovQA is saying it’s not possible even though you are using the very feature (I even asked them to use your letters as an example!). They state the system only counts time spent on all PIRs from whenever the system was implemented, not FY only. -- Julia Antilley e-mail on 10-26-22 

 I’m hoping to take a policy December 13th that adopts 552.275 to charge for ALL requests someone submits in excess of 36 hours/fiscal year and/or 15 hours/month. I discussed briefly with Chief Howard and Christine at PD. -- Julia Antilley e-mail on 11-10-22

One member of City Council actively worked to limit citizen access to public information, not the whole Council.  

Mayor Brenda Gunter said the financial numbers did not add up for instituting the limit to get at a small number of requestors for only $5,000 in revenue.  Councilman Larry Miller voted with the Mayor against instituting public information limits.  

Five Council members voted for the change, in part to prevent the need to hire additional staff.  The city posted a temporary/seasonal job in the City Clerk's office.  The first task listed is helping with public information requests.  

Assists with request for public information citywide.

Providing customer service and responding to public inquiries and requests for information. 

Knowledge of Public Information Act, Open Meetings Act, City Charter, Code of Ordinances, Election Code, and Local Government Code.

That was a fast change, one that City Council could expect not to happen so quickly after their vote. 

Update 1-19-23:  Councilman Tommy Hiebert filed for reelection.  Voters may wish to consider his efforts to limit citizen access to public information. 

Update 2-20-23:  City Clerk Julia Antilley is no longer in that role.  Interim City Clerk Heather Stastny may be permanently appointed to that role in tomorrow's City Council meeting during Closed Session.