Court sides with MEIC in Public Records Dispute

(September 2008)  For more than a year, the City of Great Falls has erected numerous obstacles blocking the public’s exercise of its constitutional right to review the City’s documents concerning its relationship with SME and Highwood.  The City is a member of SME and wants to be a part owner of the plant.  

The City has spent millions of dollars—and signed away a large chunk of its water rights—to help make Highwood become a reality.  Yet the records it has agreed to provide to the public regarding its involvement are quite incomplete.  Last year MEIC sued the City, asking the court to order the City to release all of the documents it was withholding.  

In June 2008, district court judge Wayne Phillips ruled in favor of MEIC.  In his ruling he called the City’s arguments that it is legally allowed to withhold documents “disingenuous.” He also said: “In the instant case, Plaintiff (MEIC) has prevailed on a very substantive public policy issue: whether a government entity can refuse to disclose a preliminary draft of a final document which itself implicates the health and welfare of thousands upon thousands of people living within the microclimate of the proposed power plant.”

Despite this clear decision, the City of Great Falls and SME continued to withhold documents from the public.  In fact there is evidence that the City had previously purged its files of a number of documents at SME’s request.  In late July MEIC was forced to return to court and ask the court to enforce its decision.

After much wrangling, the City, SME, and MEIC signed an agreement that will allow the public to review the City’s files.  It also requires the City to create a log of those documents it is withholding.  Once that log is available MEIC and its attorney will determine if those withheld documents are in fact “trade secrets” under the law.  More likely than not, MEIC will have to return to court once again to force the disclosure of illegally withheld public documents.  

MEIC’s attorney in this case is David K.W. Wilson of Helena.  

VICTORY!

Court Orders the City of Great Falls to Release its Records on Highwood (July 17, 2008)  Read the court decision (766 KB pdf)

In the News

• Great Falls Tribune Applauds MEIC (July 20, 2008).  
• MEIC back in court seeking files that may contain trade secrets (BY ZACHARY FRANZ • TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER • JULY 31, 2008)
  
• Watch the video of KFBB's news report, "Citizens want Highwood Documents from Great Falls"