Saturday, April 5, 2008

AG says development agency is covered by Records Act

Jackie Schlotfeldt News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jschlotfeldt@news-bulletin.com

Belen The attorney general's office has determined that the Greater Belen Economic Development Corp. was covered by the Inspection of Public Records Act when a pledge for cash or in-kind services was offered to a pipe manufacturing company looking to locate to Valencia County.

A complaint sent to the Attorney General's office in January by the community organization Our Tomorrow said that the City of Belen failed to produce requested documentation regarding the commitment of cash and in-kind services or any records concerning the pipe manufacturer when requested in November.

The city's response on Dec. 3 to the request made by Jerah Cordova and B. Paul Ortega of Our Tomorrow directed them to the GBEDC, saying that there was no formal communications between the city and the GBEDC regarding the pipe manufacturing company. The response also said that an application by the pipe manufacturing company had never been submitted to the City of Belen so the municipality did not have any of the records the group was requesting.

The organization then requested the records from the GBEDC, and in a letter dated Dec. 19, GBEDC board president Larry Marshall wrote that it was "a private, non-profit 501(c)(4) corporation and was not required by the IPRA to provide access to its records."

Although no complaint had been sent to the AG at the time, when called by the News-Bulletin in December, Phil Sisneros, director of communications for Attorney General Gary King, said that the GBEDC is not bound by the Public Records Act unless it had been adopted as a policy and in the group's bylaws.

Leonard DeLayo, executive director of the Foundation for Open Government, also said in a telephone interview in December that the issue had been brought to his attention but he did not believe that there was a clear violation.

However, after receiving and reviewing a formal complaint, Assistant Attorney General Andrea Buzzard wrote the determination, saying the AG believed the development corporation was acting on behalf of the City of Belen and in accordance with an economic development ordinance passed by the city council in 2003. Therefore, she said, it was subject to inspection of public records statutes.

The AG also suggested the city amend its ordinance to avoid future disputes by making it clear any records concerning activities generated, secured or possessed by the GBEDC and authorized by the city's ordinance be made available for inspection.

Claudette Riley, executive director for the GBEDC, said that based on the way the Public Records Act is written, the agency now believes it is subject to inspection.

"We're going to abide by the opinion as requested by the assistant to the Attorney General," Riley said.

City Manager Sally Garley said they are looking at the ordinance and will be amending it in the near future.

Cordova said in a telephone interview that one of the more important aspects of the AG's determination is that it's not just pertaining to the City of Belen but to communities statewide because many of them have similar economic development agencies.

"That's more important," Cordova said.

Cordova went on to say that both he and the GBEDC received the determination letter from the AG at about the same time and Riley contacted him. They met on March 28, and he inspected the records that were previously requested.

Sisneros said in a telephone interview Tuesday that because the GBEDC was operating on the city's behalf and was essentially acting as an advisory board, it is defined as a public body and is subject to the IPRA.

"In and of themselves without representing the city, they are not subject to IPRA, but when they do (represent the city), they have to allow inspection of records," Sisneros said.

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