Opinion ID: 2391423
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Open Records.

Text: The Court of Civil Appeals held that Shackelford was not entitled to the minutes of the closed meeting under the Texas Open Records Act because no minutes were taken. It further held that Shackelford had no standing to contest the failure to furnish these records as required by the Abilene City Charter. We hold that Shackelford has standing and is entitled to the minutes under the Abilene City Charter. Section 122 of the Abilene City Charter, as set out above, requires that minutes be taken at all meetings of the city council, of boards or of commissions, and that such minutes constitute public records. The Abilene City Charter further states: PUBLIC RECORDS Section 123: All public records of every office, department or agency of the City shall be open to inspection by any citizen at all reasonable times, provided that such police records, vital statistic records, or other records which are closed to the public by law shall not be considered public records for the purpose of this Section. [Emphasis added]. Shackelford is a citizen of Abilene and as such is entitled to inspect the minutes of the Board's hearing just as he would any other public record of the city. The Board argues that there are no minutes to furnish, despite the fact that Section 122 of the City Charter requires minutes to be kept. While it may well be true that no minutes exist, we have held that the original closed deliberations held by the Board were in violation of the City Charter. If this matter is to be pursued further, the deliberations will have to be held again in compliance with the City Charter; and, in accordance with the judgment of the trial court, the Board should further comply with the City Charter by taking minutes at this meeting and by making them available for inspection as public records. The judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals is reversed, and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.