State Records Committee Appeal 2007-05

BEFORE THE STATE RECORDS COMMITTEE OF THE STATE OF UTAH

KENNETH R IVORY, Petitioner, vs.

SUMMIT COUNTY, Respondent.

DECISION AND ORDER

Case No. 07-05

By this appeal, KENNETH R. IVORY seeks access to records of the Summit County Attorney's Office relating to Brody Taylor, John Moon & Stacy Headrick. The State Records Committee, having reviewed the materials submitted by the parties, and having heard oral argument and testimony on April 12, 2007, now issues the following Decision and Order.

STATEMENT OF REASONS FOR DECISION

1. The Government Records Access and Management Act ("GRAMA") specifies that "all records are public unless otherwise expressly provided by statute." Utah Code Ann. 63-2-201(2). Records that are not public are designated as either "private," "protected," or "controlled." See Utah Code Ann. 63-2-302, -303 and -304. The County Attorney denied Mr. Ivory the records he seeks on the grounds that said records are the subject of ongoing or potentially ongoing investigation and therefore, protected per Utah Code Ann 63-2-304(9).

2. The Committee is persuaded that the records in question were inappropriately classified as protected under Utah Code Ann 63-2-304(9)(a) and there is insufficient evidence of an ongoing investigation(s). Release of the records could not reasonably be expected to interfere with investigations undertaken for enforcement, discipline, licensing, certification, or registration purposes.

3. The Committee is persuaded that portions of the records Petitioner seeks are public, but may include information that is private, protected or controlled. Another statute(s) according to UCA63-2-201(3)(b) may govern access to these records. Summit County Attorney should review the records primary and any secondary classifications and insure the proper classification is applied to the records.

ORDER

THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED THAT the appeal of Kenneth R. Ivory is affirmed in part. The Summit County Attorney is directed to review and properly classify the documents requested by Petitioner. Said review is to be completed and a response provided to the Petitioner within 10 days.

RIGHT TO APPEAL

Either party may appeal this Decision and Order to the District Court. The petition for review must be filed no later than thirty (30) days after the date of this order. The petition for judicial review must be a complaint. The complaint and the appeals process are governed by the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure and Utah Code Ann. 63-2-404. The court is required to make its decision de novo. In order to protect its rights on appeal, a party may wish to seek advice from an attorney.

Entered this 19th day of April 2007.

BY THE STATE RECORDS COMMITTEE

Carl Albrecht, Chairperson
State Records Committee