Before the City’s Ethics Commission can draft a resolution recommending procedures for handling text messages regarding City business, it first must research whether text messages are public records.
The commission’s transparency and open government subcommittee met Monday and approved a resolution to be drafted by Ethics, Compliance and Oversight Office Director Carla Miller and Assistant General Counsel Jason Gabriel.
The resolution would address the preservation of text messages used to conduct City business. The recommendation was brought to the full commission Tuesday.
“It was, simply, a direction to all City employees that text messages are public records,” said Miller.
The co-author of the resolution did not support the statement, though.
“I did have a brief conversation about this with General Counsel (Cindy Laquidara). She is of the opinion, and we can vet this further and we can do further legal analysis if we have to, that text messages are the equivalent of a phone message and due to the transitory nature of a text message they are not considered a public record,” said Gabriel.
That classification could change if a mechanism is in place to collect the messages, Gabriel said.
“If they are being retained and there is a process, we are going to discuss this further and I understand we are retaining them, then of course those are public records,” he said.
“But until some real mechanism for retention is created, they are the equivalent of a phone message and are not considered a public record,” he said.
Gabriel clarified the Office of General Counsel’s position at the end of the meeting.
“We are not saying they aren’t public records. We are not saying they are public records. We are saying that we need to do more research on the issue,” said Gabriel.
Gabriel informed commission Chair Braxton Gillam that he was not aware of any legal opinion confirming text messages are public records.
The commission also held a strategic planning meeting to discuss its direction. Its highest priorities are making ethics laws more understandable, promoting transparency and developing the identity of the new Ethics, Compliance and Oversight Office.
The next regular commission meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Aug. 6.
@photojoe71
356-2466