Judge rules Hoxie violated state statute on open records

A judge has ruled that the city of Hoxie violated the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act when it failed to provide a City Council member with three public records requests within three days as required by law.

In addition, the judge said in a written ruling posted Thursday, the city violated the law when it passed on the cost of hiring outside personnel to retrieve the footage.

“The act of passing a $220 cost of hiring outside personnel to the requester is a violation of FOIA,” said Division 1, 3rd Judicial Circuit Court Judge Rob Ratton in his order.

Ratton ordered the city to stop passing along the cost of “personnel time associated with searching for, retrieving, viewing, inspecting, copying, or obtaining copies of public records,” and to comply with the records law.

“And although Hoxie Mayor Dennis Coggins testified that he does not know about FOIA, it is his responsibility to ensure that the City of Hoxie strictly complies with the requirements of FOIA,” Ratton wrote in his order.

“The buck stops with him as mayor.”

The judge ordered the city to pay court costs and attorneys fees. The fees will be submitted at a later date and considered by the court, Ratton said.

The dispute began in October 2023.

Darrell Pickney, a City Council member, made a verbal records request for footage from a municipally owned surveillance system on Oct. 20, 2023. The city did not turn over the public record until about three weeks later. Ark. Code Ann. §25-19105(e) requires records to be made available within three days.

The city then charged Pickney for retrieving the records.

Later, on Feb. 17, Pickney sent a second records request by electronic mail to the mayor requesting public records that included bank statements for the city’s Job Stimulus Fund (“Reuse Fund”) from October 2023 to the present. Those records were not turned over to Pickney until March 5, again a time period violation.

On Feb. 25, Pickney sent a third records request for audio/video footage of the Feb. 13, regular monthly Hoxie City Council meeting. He did not get those records until the morning of the trial on Wednesday.

Pickney, through the McCutchen Sexton Napurano law firm, sued the city on March 4.

Neither the mayor or city attorney could be reached for comment Thursday or Friday.

This is at least the second time a citizen won an open-records case against a public entity in the Arkansas Delta this year. Last month, the McCutchen Sexton Napurano law firm — representing two West Memphis residents — were successful in an open-records lawsuit against the West Memphis School District and its school board.

The district and its board violated the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act regarding the selection of a superintendent last year, a judge ruled. As a result, the district received a $1,500 fine and ordered to pay legal fees.