A request by the City of Sugar Land city attorney for the Open Records Division of the Texas Attorney General’s Office to “reconsider” an October 2015 open records ruling was rebuffed by Assistant Attorney General Cristian Rosas-Grillet earlier this month.
The City of Sugar Land received a public information act request for agendas and papers of the Board of Directors of the Fort Bend Economic Development Council in the care, custody or control of Sugar Land city manager Allan Bogard.
The FBEDC asserted a portion of the submitted information consisted of minutes of closed, non-public meetings however, upon review the AG’s office found the information at issue is not minutes or certified agendas of closed meetings and in open records letter ruling 2015-21056 told the city they may not withhold the information.
In a November 4th, 2015 letter to the Open Records Division of the Texas Attorney General’s office, Sugar Land city attorney Meredith Riede sought clarification as to which documents should be released by the city to the requestor or withheld.
The December 7th, 2015 letter written by the Assistant AG to the Sugar Land city attorney reminded Ms. Riede that “section 552.301 (f) of the Government Code provides that a governmental body is prohibited from asking for a reconsideration of the attorney general’s decision—therefore, unless you file a timely challenge in district court, you must comply with Open Records Letter 2015-21056.”