State Records Committee Decision 2015-05

BEFORE THE STATE RECORDS COMMITTEE OF THE STATE OF UTAH

SCOTT GOLLAHER, Petitioner, v.

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, DIVISION OF PEACE OFFICERS STANDARDS AND TRAINING (POST), Respondent.

DECISION AND ORDER

Case No. 15-05

By this appeal, Petitioner, Scott Gollaher, seeks access to records potentially held by Respondent, Department of Public Safety, Division of Peace Officers Standards and Training.

FACTS

In a letter dated October 17, 2014, Mr. Gollaher made a records request to the Department Of Public Safety, Division of Peace Officers Standards and Training (“POST”) pursuant to the Government Records Access and Management Act (“GRAMA”). Mr. Gollaher requested information pertaining to the possible disciplinary action(s) taken against former Detective William Z. Wetland, Badge No.: 20911, with relation to a conference held in Mesquite, Nevada during the week of September 24, 2012. In a letter dated on or about December 17, 2014, Mr. Gollaher was notified that his request was denied because POST does not have any records responsive to the October 17, 2014 GRAMA request. Said conference was not sponsored by POST, thus POST is not required to maintain any documents related to the conference, including any potential information that POST may or may not have been notified of. The conference is believed to have been sponsored by the Utah Attorney General’s Office.
On or about December 8, 2014, Mr. Gollaher filed an appeal with the State Records Committee (“Committee”). The Committee having reviewed the arguments submitted by the parties and having heard oral argument and testimony on January 8, 2014, now issues the following Decision and Order.

STATEMENT OF REASONS FOR DECISION

1. In the present case, counsel for POST clearly identified that POST does not have any records responsive to Mr. Gollaher’s October 17, 2014 GRAMA request. Notice was provided to Mr. Gollaher in a letter dated December 17, 2014 that no responsive records were available; however, the State Records Committee was not notified of said response until January 7, 2014. As such, this hearing could not be vacated in a timely manner.

2. As there are no existing records to provide to Mr. Gollaher, and POST responded appropriately, the State Records Committee is unable to order that any information be released.

ORDER

THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED THAT the appeal of Petitioner, Scott Gollaher, is DENIED.

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 § 63G-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.

PENALTY NOTICE

Pursuant to Utah Code § 63G-2-403(14)(d), the government entity herein shall comply with the order of the Committee and, if records are ordered to be produced, file: (1) a notice of compliance with the records committee upon production of the records; or (2) a notice of intent to appeal. If the government entity fails to file a notice of compliance or a notice of intent to appeal, the Committee may do either or both of the following: (1) impose a civil penalty of up to $500 for each day of continuing noncompliance; or (2) send written notice of the entity's noncompliance to the Governor for executive branch entities, to the Legislative Management Committee for legislative branch entities, and to the Judicial Council for judicial branch agencies’ entities.

Entered this 20th day of January 2015.

BY THE STATE RECORDS COMMITTEE

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PATRICIA SMITH-MANSFIELD, Chairperson
State Records Committee