August 26, 2020 Dear City of Troy Records Officer, L hope you all are staying well during the crisis. 1 am writing in response to the City of Troy’s refusal to fulfill my lawful request under Alabama Open Records Law § 36-12-40 et seq. Despite claims made in the letter from the city attorney, Mr. Calhoun, your rejection of my reasonably worded request is contradicted by precedent and the spirit and purpose of the Alabama Open Records Law. I hope that you will reconsider your unlawful denial of my request. On July 6, 2020 I made the following request for copies of records from the Executive Department of the City of Troy: Alll electronic records of Mayor Jason Reeves with J. Gregory Henderson, Wiley Lott, or Shannon Jackson from Southeast Gas, Please include any administrative assistant(s) and chiefs of staff that may report to the named individual. This request should search professional accounts and any personal accounts used for professional purposes. The timeframe of this public records request is between July 1, 2019 through the date of this filing. For email records you may use the keyword: "@southeastgas.com' to simplify your search. The letter from Mr. Calhoun selectively highlights portions of this request to justify denial, although he provides no statutory basis to do so. He seems to think that emphasizing the stated purpose of the request somehow modifies the obligations of your office under the Alabama Open Records Law. Nothing in the law requires requesters to state a reason for their request. To the extent the Energy and Policy Institute is willing to share the purpose of its request, we are a watchdog organization conducting research to inform the citizenry of Troy and the state of Alabama. ‘The statements in the letter that a public records request may be, in some circumstances, burdensome combined with vague claim that fulfilling this request will be “disruptive” to the city do not justify the rejection of my request. On the contrary, the Alabama Open Records Law requires a presumption of openness, allows only specific exemptions to this rule to be narrowly applied, and places a burden on the government to justify its application of a statutory exemption, Chambers v. Birmingham News Co., 552 So. 24 854, 856-57 (Ala. 1989). Open government is the policy of the state. Exemptions cannot be used so that government can “pick and choose” what will be disclosed based on convenience or what they believe the public should know. 552 So, 2d at 857. The city has failed to meet its burden and provide any justification in the statute for its refusal to provide records. 552 So. 2d at 856-57. The request for records that I submitted is for only electronic records for a specific time period held by specific custodians and is a valid request under the law. The language taken from the Stone case by your attorney does not allow the city to avoid its open records act obligations. In fact, the Supreme Court in Chambers v. Birmingham News Co. 552 So.2d 854 (Ala. 1989) discusses the language used by your attorney in particular:We have paid particular attention to the language in Stone that seeks to prescribe exceptions to the public disclosure requirement of public writings and records, together with the language in § 36-12-40. It is clear from the wording of § 36-12- 40 that the legislature intended that the statute be liberally construed. In addition, ‘we note, statutes intended for the public benefit are to be construed in favor of the public. Gant v. Warr, 286 Ala. 387, 240 So.2d 353 (1970).! To the extent the City of Troy believed the request to be burdensome, the City did not attempt to contact me nor resolve its perceived issues. As a frequent requestor of public records, I have routinely worked with public agencies and governmental bodies across the state of Alabama in order to tailor records requests to reduce as much potential burden on the recipient while still retaining the requested information, No such attempt was made by the City of Troy and instead its immediate denial of the request was contrary to the letter and the spirit of the Alabama Open Records Act. ‘Thank you for considering the contents of this correspondence and please notify me as soon as practicable regarding my request. Sincerely, Def sc Daniel Tait Richard F. Calhoun, City Attorney for the City of Troy, Email to Facsimile (334) 566-7584 Robert Jones, City Council District One, robert.jones@troyal. gov Greg Mecks, City Council District Two, greg.meeks@troyal.gov ‘Marcus Paramore, City Couneil District Three, marcus@iroy.edu Stephanie Baker, City Council District Four, stephanie. baker@troyal.gov Wanda Howard Moultry, City Council District Five, wanda.moultry @troval.gov Jason Reeves, Mayor, mayor@troyal.gov ' Further explanation of the rules and the cases cited can be found on the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press guide to Alabama Open Records Law: https://www.tefp.org/open- ‘government-guide/alabama/#e-record-holder-obligations and this guide from the Alabama archives: https://archives.alabama.gov/ol_pubs/pub_off.html.