City Responds to Public Information Request of Alcohol Petitions

TYLER — The City of Tyler is taking additional steps to comply with a request for pro-alcohol petitions. The request comes from Stand Strong for Tyler, which opposes efforts to place alcohol measures on ballots this November in the city and in Justict Precinct 2. A city news release sent says the steps come “in light of newly received information.”

The news release states, “It is, and continues to be, the City�s position that the requested petitions are open and are subject to disclosure. The City�s initial concern was that some information, such as the home addresses of peace officers, or the home addresses of City employees that have signed a confidentiality form, might be confidential under State law. In addition, the petitions contain the individual Voter Registration Numbers of citizens. When it appears that information might be confidential under State law, the Public Information Act provides a specific procedure for seeking an Attorney General Opinion, which the City of Tyler has done.

“After following the standard process for seeking an Attorney General Opinion, the City of Tyler has contacted other entities to get their input regarding the information contained in the alcohol petitions. The City has learned that other jurisdictions have received similar requests, and have released petitions without redactions [blacking out certain pieces of information]. Similarly, it has been learned that the City of Dallas received a public information request when it went through the alcohol petition process, and Dallas released the alcohol petitions without redacting any information.

“State law provides that when information cannot be released within 10 business days after receipt, the City must give the requestor a reasonable date when the information will be available. The City initially provided a release date of on or before August 13, 2012, based upon the ongoing verification process and the possible need to redact potentially confidential information. However, after contacting other cities and the Secretary of State�s Office, the City of Tyler has determined that it will be able to release the requested information, without any redactions, by close of business on July 13, 2012.

“The City is taking a calculated risk in releasing the requested information prior to receipt of an Attorney General Opinion, but the City is also balancing the public�s right to obtain information contained in the petitions with the individual privacy interests and has concluded that the information can be released earlier than the August 13, 2012 deadline. The City received payment today [Thursday] for the associated costs of producing the records, so the City of Tyler can now proceed with copying and releasing the documents.”