By MAIRE O’NEILLCourt documents filed Oct. 10 on behalf of Patrick Brenner and his mother Lisa Brenner state that there is no “win-win” in a proposal by Los Alamos County Council unless the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) is complied with in a case involving emails in a personal account belonging to County Council Vice Chair Susan O’Leary.
The Brenners had asked the County through its Custodian of Public Records Barb Ricci to release every email by every Councilor from May 15 but O’Leary has maintained that she has a privacy interest and legitimate safety concerns related to the release of the documents. The County, in a motion for in camera or in chambers review of O’Leary’s emails filed Sept. 26, states that the Council has not had the opportunity to review the emails from O’Leary’s personal account, if any, that are in O’Leary’s control to determine if they are public record and fall under IPRA.
The County’s motion claimed that the in camera review of the emails was a “win-win” for all parties because the Brenners could be assured of a neutral examination by the Court and O’Leary would receive the “appropriate attention to her personal concerns”.
The Brenners’ response alleges the County’s motion admits they have not performed a complete search for responsive documents and that by not making release determinations the County did not fulfill its statutory mandate under IPRA.
“The Courts cannot be saddled with performing agency responsibilities in circumstances such as these, or IPRA would lose all effect. Agencies could delay responding to IPRA requests for weeks, months and years, leaving it to the Courts to perform the function and effectively gutting any transparency IPRA was intended to give to government activities,” the response adds.
The response states that the Council “cannot seem to control or require its own Councilor to comply with applicable state law”. It calls the Council’s action in asking the Court to do so for it “abhorrent to the obligations of an elected official to comply with state law as well as to her obligations towards constituents”. It maintains that in camera review is simply not appropriate and that searching for responsive records and making release determinations is the obligation of the County under IPRA.
“While O’Leary may have public communications she desires to hide, and did so by using her personal account, the Defendants are not relieved from the statutory duty to the public,” the response concludes.
The Brenners are represented in the case by attorney A. Blair Dunn. The case is assigned to First Judicial District Court Judge Sarah Singleton.