2019 Records Settlements - PowerPoint Presentation

2019 Records Settlements Kent Walz, NMFOG Lifetime Achievement Recipient Melanie J. Majors, NMFOG Executive Director

2019 Records Settlements Jal Record v City of Jal $407,471.25 Haussamen v N.M. Spaceport $60,000.00 Brenner v Los Alamos $45,000.00 Garcia & Mortensen v Gallup Schools $14,000.00 Sub total $526,471.25

Jal Record v City of Jal The Jal Record fought the City of Jal which refused to release records Attorney General called the denial a “flagrant violation of the law” The paper settled with the City of Jal and city officials admitted that there was “no excuse for the City’s wholesale violation of IPRA.” The City’s legal counsel admitted the City “failed miserably and woefully,” to comply with IPRA City agreed to pay $407,471.25 to settle the paper’s claims

Jal Record v City of Jal As part of the final resolution of the lawsuit, the City agreed that the Mayor, City Manager, City Clerk and each and every one of its City Councilors shall attend a 'Sunshine Law' educational presentation conducted by the New Mexico Attorney General's Office City also acknowledged (among other things) that The Jal Record' s "lawsuit has identified a variety of areas that needed improvement" prior City Manager and City Council members admitted under oath to intentionally destroying public record e-mails

Haussamen v N.M. Spaceport Haussamen sought release of several documents concerning Space Port leases The Spaceport Authority redacted several portions of the lease agreements had with four of the spaceport’s tenants in 2017, blocking the disclosure of rent and fee information and economic impact data AG found Space Port Failed to respond to a records request in the time the law requires. Cited the wrong exemption to redact information from public records. Charged unauthorized fees for copies of public records. Refused to release the list of Twitter accounts the agency had blocked.

Haussamen v N.M. Spaceport Settled for $60,000 Space Port Provided documents Space Port admitted economic documents did not exist Space Port unblocked social media accounts

Brenner v Los Alamos Brenner filed a request for all emails sent and received by Los Alamos County Councilors May 15, 2017 Suit claimed Council members provided some emails but withheld emails sent from private email addresses Judge reviewed private emails and determined two emails were public records and not exempt from disclosure Plaintiff’s attorney maintained that public records not produced according to the law are considered improperly withheld and that IPRA had been violated.

Brenner v Los Alamos County’s insurer settled three-year lawsuit Judge ruled public can have access to emails about the public’s business even if they are on a private account The county spent $50,000 defending itself against Brenner’s suit The case was settled through New Mexico Self Insurer’s Fund for $45,000

Teri Garcia and Stefanie Mortensen v. Gallup McKinley County Schools Years long records lawsuit between the schools and two charter school parents School district repeatedly denied requests for copies of records about efforts to revoke the charter of Middle College High School in 2018 When GMCS officials did not respond within the deadlines imposed under state law, Garcia and Mortensen filed a lawsuit

Teri Garcia and Stefanie Mortensen v. Gallup McKinley County Schools Defendant claimed records were not denied, but $5,900 or $.50 was required to inspect the 11,875 pages of records In the end, the GMCS settled the lawsuit on July 29 – the scheduled trial date – School district agreed to pay Garcia and Mortensen $14,000 and give them the documents

2019 IPRA Fees and Fines Farmington v DPS $28,000.00 Britton v AG $265,000.00 Corizon $37,535.00 Other settlements $526,471.25 $857,006.25