We’re glad the City of Gladewater released the 2025 engineer’s inspection report on the Lake Gladewater Dam.
It was the right thing to do, legally and ethically, for the citizens of this community. The document contains essential facts and insight into one of City Hall’s core duties: maintaining the aging structure that creates Gladewater’s sole water source.
It’s an important public record and should have been released three weeks earlier.
The Gladewater Mirror asked for a copy Feb. 19. That kickstarted a 10-business-day countdown for officials to furnish the document or to request a ruling from the Texas Attorney General if there existed a compelling, legal reason to withhold the information.
On March 5, Day 10, the city asked the AG’s Open Records Division to weigh in. City Attorney Ronald Stutes wrote that the report was “Confidential Information” on critical infrastructure that elected officials may discuss behind closed doors: “It would be absurd to allow the Council to go into closed session to review a document that has been made public by its release under the Public Information Act.”
Not only is the inspection of significant public interest, elected officials routinely discuss public records in closed session when an exception to the Open Meetings Act applies. Also, the city already published the full 2023 Dam Inspection Report online alongside the mayor’s assurance they’d do the same for the 2025 update.
Delaying the release was unnecessary, and it’s a poor use of taxpayer dollars.
It will be weeks or months before the AG’s Office weighs in. In the meantime, the unredacted inspection report was published Friday in the packet for tonight’s council meeting. It’s up for discussion by our elected officials and anyone else who wants to weigh in.
Ironically, the report’s belated release March 13 fell days before the beginning of Sunshine Week, March 15-21, an annual spotlight on the importance of public records and open government. We applaud everyone at City Hall who advocated for the report’s timely release. Transparency is essential, and it’s what the public wants and needs.
Let’s keep the light on.