Posted 11:13 am Saturday, October 11, 2008
Sheriff Fighting Request For Detailed Jail Plans
By ADAM RUSSELL
Staff Writer
Sheriff J.B. Smith said he asked the Smith County district attorney's office to fight the Texas Attorney General Office's ruling that detailed floor plans of the proposed jail be made public.
Staff Writer
Sheriff J.B. Smith said he asked the Smith County district attorney's office to fight the Texas Attorney General Office's ruling that detailed floor plans of the proposed jail be made public.
The ruling, Smith said, "poses an extreme hazard to my officers and the public," by releasing the inner workings of the jail including ductwork, the electrical system and camera positions.
He said he is unaware of any sheriff's department in the state that releases information regarding the inner workings of a high-security center.
"As a past president of the Texas Association of Sheriffs I can tell you this is not well received by the sheriffs of Texas," he said.
Smith said he believes in his heart that the attorney general was not directly involved with the ruling, but that if the Attorney General's Office stands by the ruling he will challenge it in court.
"I will guarantee, if the ruling is not overturned, the Attorney General can stand by for a fight from the sheriffs of Texas," he said.
Attorney General's Office spokesman Dirk Fillpot said the attorney general's office does not comment on the specifics of individual opinions and that determinations are based upon the facts and information presented to them.
County commissioners JoAnn Fleming, JoAnn Hampton and Bobby Van Ness said they agree with the sheriff and will support his opinion regarding the release of security information. They each said separately it is a matter of common sense that releasing information regarding detailed floor plans could pose dangers to the public and law enforcement officers.
Commissioner Bill McGinnis and County Judge Joel Baker were unavailable for comment.
Van Ness said the court has nothing to hide in regard to the jail's physical plans and the pertinent information is available to the public online and upon request.
Ms. Fleming said she does not know why local lawyer and member of the jail opposition group Ken Good filed an open records request, but that every piece of information about the basic structure and cost of the jail has been made public. She said there will be an executive session during Monday's commissioners court meeting in which the court will receive legal advice on how to proceed and then take action in public session.
Good said in a statement that, in July, after hearing rumors a jail plan was being developed for the ballot in closed meetings, he filed an open records request to "find out the truth." He said he has done nothing since.
Stan Springerley, assistant Smith County district attorney, on behalf of the commissioners court, sought permission from the Attorney General's Office to keep the plans confidential, but the county's argument was thrown out, making the information public.
The heart of the argument, Good said, is that Ms. Fleming "now maintains that complete architectural drawings were submitted to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards when no plan had even been made public."
In a 1999 the Attorney General's Office ruled that "an entity appointed by a governmental body, but containing less than a quorum of members of that governmental body may be subject to the Open Meetings Act, either because it falls within a definition of the term 'governmental body' or as a subcommittee of a governmental body."
Good believes Ms. Fleming and Baker violated the Open Meetings Act.
Ms. Fleming said in response to those allegations that the 1999 ruling does not apply to the committee because it was not appointed by the court and that during the procession of meetings it maintained contact with Springerley to ensure no violations were occurring.
She said Good attempted to file a complaint with the district attorney alleging the meetings were in violation, but the district attorney ruled the committee was not breaking any open meetings law.
"If (District Attorney) Matt Bingham believed we broke the law he would have had us in front of the grand jury," she said.
The attorney general's Monday ruling does not address the propriety of any meetings, only the argument submitted on behalf of the Smith County Commissioners Court.
Smith said he never attended a secret meeting and does not know of one occurring.
"Nothing has been done in secret," he said. "No one ever closed a door on what the jail plan committee was doing. (Good) just wants some publicity for the opposition group."
