**JXM** MA-X **ATTORNEY G,CNERAL**  February 15, 1990

Hon. James Warren Smith, Jr. Frio County Attorney P. 0. Boxv Pearsall, Texas 78061-1138 OpinionNo. JR-1143 Re: Whether a county clerk must make available to the public tapes of commissioners courtmeetings (RQ-1835) **Dear** Mr. Smith: Inyour letter requesting an opinionyou state the following facts:

1.The county clerk makes audio tape recordings of commissioners court meetings. 2.The county clerkmaintains that these tape recordings areher "privatenotes" and are thus her privateproperty. **3.** The county clerk uses. these tape recordings to aid her in preparing the minutes of the commissioners court. 4. The commissioners court does not require the clerk to tape record either public or executive sessions of the court. you ask whether such tape recordings must be made available to the generalpublic. The county clerk is the px pfficig clerk of the commissioners court and, as such, is required "to record in suitablebooks the proceedings of each term of the court." Local Gov't Code 5 81.003(b). Section 3(a) of the Open RecordsAct, article 6252-17a, V.T.C.S., provides:

All information collected, assembled, or maintained by or for governmental bodies, c D in th s situations where‘ t ex e t oe he

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governmental bodv dons not have either a iaht of access to or owner hiD of th &iggi& in connection official business is public information [unlesswithin a specified exception]. iEmphasisadded.) The underlined.language in the above-quoted provision was added to the statute in 1989. Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1248, 5 9, at 5023. It exemptsmaterials from coverage by the Open Records Act in situations where materials are produced for a governmental bodybut the governmental body has neither ownership innor a right of access to the materials. This exemption is a codification of principles enunciated inprevious open recordsdecisions. See. e.o., Open Records Decision No. 445 (1986). You do not statewhether the tapes or the tape recorder are county property or the personal property of the county clerk. However, assuming that they are the personal property of the county clerk, she certainlyhas access to them inher official capacity as clerk of the commissioners court. In Open Records Decision No. 225 (1979),the attorney general considered whether handwritten notes of meetings made by the secretary of a governmentalbody were subject to the Open Records Act. In'that decision, as here, the materials in questionwere not of the type of personal notes that have been held tobe exempt frbmdisclosure. The tape recordings in questionhere areusedby the county clerk in the performance ofher duties as clerk of the commissioners court. The analysis inOpen Records DecisionNo. 225 and the authorities cited therein are appositehere. Moreover, theminutes of a commissioners court meeting, being themedium throughwhich the court speaks and acts, is exactly the kind of record the Open RecordsAct is intended tomake available so that citizens may have "full and complete information regarding the official acts of those who represent them." V.;l.C.S.art. 6252-17a, § 1; Open Records Decision No. 60 (1974). Tape recordings produced during ameeting of a governmental body as an aid in the preparation of accurateminutes have been expressly found to be subject to theprovisions of the Open Records Act. Open Records DecisionNo. 32 (1974). Therefore, audio tape recordings of commissioners court meetings that aremade by the county clerk as an aid in the

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h preparation ofminutes are subject to theprovisions of' the

Open Records Act. The fact, taken alone, that such recordingsmay be thepersonal property of the county clerk does not except them from the Open RecordsAct.

SUMMARY Audio tape recordings of commissioners courtmeetings that aremade by the county clerk as an aid inthepreparation ofminutes are subject to the provisions of the Open Records Act. The factthat such recordings may be the personal property of the county clerk does not except them from the Open Records Act.

;-. JIM MATTOX - Attorney General of Texas MARY KELLER First Assistant Attorney General JUDGE ZOWE STEANLEY SpecialAssistant Attorney General RENEA HICKS SpecialAssistant Attorney General RICK GILPIN Chairman, Opinion Committee Preparedby John Steiner Assistant Attorney General

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