Resolution of this issue turns on whether the print screens are preliminary drafts or notes. The report contains the name and address of the unclaimed property owner, his or her social security number, the nature or description of the property, the amount or value of the property reported unclaimed, and the name and address of the company holding the property. The original is retained by the Department, and a copy of the report is mailed to the sheriff of the county where the property is located or held to be posted and published by the sheriff. It is apparent that the unclaimed property list cannot be characterized as correspondence with a private individual. Not every paper in the office of a public agency is a public record subject to public inspection.
Many papers are simply work papers which are exempted because they are preliminary drafts and notes.
Yellow pads can be filled with outlines, notes, drafts and doodlings which are unceremoniously thrown in the wastebasket or which may in certain cases be kept in a desk drawer for future reference. Such preliminary drafts and notes and preliminary memoranda are part of the tools which a public employee or officer uses in hammering out official action within the function of his office. They are expressly exempted by the Open Records Law and may be destroyed or kept at will and are not subject to public inspection. OAG 78-626, p. 2. Resolution of this appeal turns on the issue of whether the disputed list is a work paper because it is a preliminary draft or note.