The fight to obtain city officials’ emails continues
“We initially got the first open records request it seems like years ago,” said former city representative Susie Byrd.
This fight has been brewing for a year now.
El Paso attorney Stephanie Townsend Allala filed anopen records requestfor all communication between city representatives, city officials and El Paso’s Triple-A Team, including emails on personal email accounts.
TheTexas attorney generalruled documents having to do with city business should be open to the public.
The cityhanded overmore than 7,000 documents but still withheld some stating they did not qualify under the open records act becausecity representatives don’t fall under the public information, city representatives are not directed by the city administration and their personal emails are not public.
RecentlyCity Councilunanimously voted to release more of those documents but not all.
Allala wantsCity MangerJoyce Wilson,city representativeCortney Niland and Byrd to go under oath and provide emails including emails using personal email accounts, letters, memoranda or any other form of written communication regarding any matter of public business with the city of El Paso.
“I don’t answer to her, I have put together my emails and I’ve sent them over to the city attorney,” said Byrd.
But Allala still wants more assurances.
Attorneys for the city filed a motion to block her request for deposition and are asking a judge to prohibit the disclosure of private emails and all testimony to those emails.
Byrd feelsAllala has gone too far.
“The position that she’s in is that she made a bunch of wild allegations that she can no longer prove with the thousands of emails she’s gotten and so she kind of wants to keep in the media and television and wants some how to prove the wild allegations that she started with and she doesn’t have anything to back it up and so at this point I think it’s bordering on harassment,” said Byrd.
ABC-7 did call Allala who said she couldn’t speak because everything is still in a legal process.
ABC-7was not able to reach her attorney.
ABC-7 also made efforts to reach Niland and Wilson and they didn’t call back.
The depositions, if not stopped, will be set for the first week of October.
