A dispute over access to public records - one of the fronts in the ongoing battle over Big Chino water - will have to wait until at least April 24 for further legal clarity.
During a 20-minute hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix on Friday morning, Judge Paul McMurdie set a new hearing at 9 a.m. April 24 to hear arguments on the dispute between Prescott/Prescott Valley and the Salt River Project over public records requests that the local governments have made.
In early March, Prescott and Prescott Valley filed a legal complaint against SRP to gain access to reams of the Phoenix-area public utility company's records pertaining to the Big Chino.
Colleen Auer, Prescott Valley Deputy Town Attorney, reported that while SRP has provided some of the records that the local governments have requested, the company has resisted on one key category - its annual auditor letters.
"The issue is that SRP has denied that they are a public body," Auer said, adding that the company has "cheery-picked" the information it chooses to release.
"They're summarizing it as they see fit," Auer said.
SRP, on the other hand, has filed a motion to dismiss the local governments' complaint, maintaining that the auditor letters are "protected from disclosure under the Public Records Act," because they fall under "attorney-client" and "accountant-client privilege."
In addition, SRP claims that it is not a public body under the Public Records Act.
On Friday afternoon, SRP Spokesman Jeffrey Lane said, "There is no reason for the court to determine whether SRP is subject to the Public Records Act because we have provided and are providing all the information Prescott and Prescott Valley have asked for and are entitled to."
He added: "Despite our position on the Public Records Act, we have never refused to respond to their requests," having already provided "more than 50 bankers boxes with about 100,000 pages of materials."
But Auer said the local governments need the whole picture from SRP in their ongoing effort to defend against the utility company's opposition to the Big Chino pipeline project.
When the two governments filed the complaint in March, Auer said, "They've (SPR) been saying that our project would impact the river, and we want to see information to support that claim."
This week, she said the information in the auditor letters would help the local governments "flesh out the reality" concerning SRP's positions on the Verde River.
For years, SRP has objected to the plans by Prescott and Prescott Valley to build a 30-mile pipeline to import water from the Big Chino Water Ranch northwest of Paulden.
In its motion to dismiss the local governments' complaint concerning public records, SRP stated, "Because Prescott's proposed wells are near the headwaters of the Verde River and a substantial portion of the water supply that SRP diverts and delivers to residents of the Phoenix area comes from the Verde River, SRP has a substantial interest in Prescott's proposed pumping near the Verde headwaters."
While the public records request is not directly related to the Arizona Department of Water Resources hearing that will resume on Monday over whether Prescott has a right to as much as 8,067 acre-feet of water per year from the Big Chino sub-basin, Auer said the information the governments were seeking would have been helpful in cross-examining witnesses at the hearing.
By seeking and achieving a delay in arguments Friday, Auer said, "They've (SRP) achieved an objective in holding that information."
SRP notes, however, that a judge earlier ruled that the company could not be a participant in the ADWR hearings.
And of the company's claims that it is not a public body under the Public Records Act, Lane said, "The public records issue is presently being litigated, so we have no further comment."
Reader Comments
Posted: Sunday, April 12, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
SRP is bad news - glad you got your contract renewed
Posted: Saturday, April 11, 2009
Article comment by:
SRP is bad news
SRP is a bad bunch. Nothing good usually emanates from things that they do. Most things they do are legal matters. If they had any competition they would've been out of business a long time ago (and they know that). Ancient laws are the only thing that allows them to survive and their legal dept. is the most important thing they have to hang onto. I hope they fail in everything they attempt to do. Their "business" in the Prescott area borders on paranoia. That's how deranged their operations are.
Posted: Saturday, April 11, 2009
Article comment by:
I am laughing
What is the difference between what SRP is telling PV about their request for SRP records and what PV is telling Howard mechanic and his group about their request for public records from PV? What goes around comes around.
