A Little Rock attorney filed a lawsuit against Tontitown on Friday, alleging officials failed to comply with the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
The lawsuit was filed against the city, Mayor Tommy Granata and Rhonda Doudna, city recorder/treasurer.
At A Glance
Freedom Of Information Act
Arkansas Code 25-19-102 says “It is vital in a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner so that the electors shall be advised of the performance of public officials and of the decisions that are reached in public activity and in making public policy. Toward this end, this chapter is adopted, making it possible for them or their representatives to learn and to report fully the activities of their public officials.”
Source: Arkansas Freedom Of Information Act
The lawsuit, filed by attorney Brandon Cate in Washington County Circuit Court, states attorney John Tull asked for email sent or received by the mayor of Tontitown from Jan. 1, 2011, to the present. He asked to have electronic access through an Internet portal to the email.
The city didn’t comply, according to the lawsuit.
Mayor Tommy Granata said he couldn’t comment about an ongoing lawsuit.
Tull is an attorney with the law firm Quattlebaum, Grooms, Tull and Burrow.
He sent his request to the city Sept. 13, according to the lawsuit. The city didn’t provide access to email records within the required three days, according to the lawsuit.
Mark Dossett, Tontitown’s city attorney, replied to Tull’s request and said the office of recorder/treasurer was vacant at the time, then stated email must be examined for personal information not covered by the act, according to copies of messages attached to the lawsuit as exhibits.
Dossett offered to print the estimated 4,000 email and have city employees mark out personal information at Tull’s expense, according to the exhibits. Tull turned down the offer, saying if city officials chose to examine the email, they must do so at the city’s expense.
Dossett also asked who Tull represented. Tull responded he was asking as a resident of the state, according to the lawsuit.
Tontitown officials asked for an Arkansas Attorney General’s opinion on a similar request, Dossett said in the attached exhibits. The earlier Freedom of Information Act request came after Mick Wagner, then the executive director of the Tontitown Water and Sewer Department, asked for electronic access to all email that went through the email system. Wagner later resigned as executive director.
In November, Alicia Collins also filed a request for similar access. Collins was an applicant for the vacant recorder/treasurer position. Some of her personal information was sent to city officials by email, Granata said at the time. In her application, Collins stated she was an employee of the Water and Sewer Department.
Rhonda Doudna, who became recorder/treasurer in November, submitted her resignation to the council at its Committee of the Whole meeting Thursday night.
The lawsuit asks for a hearing within seven days; that the city comply with the information request; and pay for Tull’s attorney fees and costs.
The Arkansas Press Association lists the Quattlebaum firm as operating its hotline for Freedom of Information Act questions.
Tull has represented Stephens Media and Wehco Media in Freedom of Information lawsuits. Stephens and Wehco own Northwest Arkansas Newspapers, the company that publishes the daily newspapers in Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale and the Northwest Arkansas edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.