County Attorney’s Office ‘Cannot Determine’ City of Austin Committed Alleged Violations
Bulldog’s Complaint Was the First Presented for Violation of Texas Pubic Information Act
The Travis County attorney’s office today issued a response to The Austin Bulldog’s complaint that alleged the City of Austin had violated the Texas Public Information Act by withholding public information.
The letter signed by James W. Collins, executive assistant Travis County attorney, states that the county attorney’s office “cannot determine that the violations alleged in your complaint were committed by the City of Austin.”
The letter states that this was a first complaint received by the Travis County Attorney’s office that was filed under Section 552.3215 of the Texas Public Information Act.
Attorney Bill Aleshire of Riggs Aleshire and Ray LP, who represented The Austin Bulldog in this matter, said, “This decision does not say the county attorney’s office exonerated the city, just that the county attorney’s office could not determine that the violations occurred as worded in the complaint.
“The county attorney’s office pointed out that since this was the first Section 551.3215 complaint it ever received, that they had to develop and implement procedures for this process as well as review the information about the complaint in a relatively short period of 30 days. Further, their letter states they had to ‘make the determination without any mechanism for compelling the production of information or testimony.’
“This complaint is settled,” Aleshire said. “Whether the Section 551.3215 process will be useful to others in the future is something we’ll just have to wait and see.”
The Austin Bulldog’s report on this complaint was published March 23. To read the story and a copy of the complaint, click here.
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