Public Information

The Office of the City Secretary is responsible for the care and maintenance of all City of Brenham records. We house all legal transactions, City Council minutes, agendas, deeds, ordinances, resolutions, contracts, and a vast array of other historical and regulatory information. The City Secretary is designated as the City's Records Management Officer by both state law and City ordinance.

All open records requests for the City of Brenham are processed by the City Secretary's Office. This includes records pertaining to City Council, Administration, Utilities, Public Works, Community and Development Services, Finance, Human Resources, etc., as well as, the Police and Fire Departments.

NOTE: The City of Brenham is not the custodian of records for the Washington County Sheriff's Department, Dispatch/9-1-1 (numbers beginning with CFS), or EMS records. Please do not use the city form for these requests, instead please contact the appropriate agency below:

•  Washington County Sheriff's Department 979-277-6258
• Washington County Emergency Communications - (911 records): Call 979-277-7373 ask for "911 records", or submit your request online
• EMS records (Washington County Switchboard 979-277-6200).
  
  

All requests for public information are treated uniformly and are processed according to the regulations set forth by the Texas Legislature and the Texas Attorney General's Office. Once the written request is received, the Office of the City Secretary determines whether or not the requested information can be released. If the requested information is public, the information will be released within ten (10) business days. If the requested information is NOT public, the City Secretary's Office will notify the requestor, in writing, within ten (10) business days and in most cases will request a ruling from the Texas Attorney General's Office.

Important Tips for Requestors:

• All requests for public information must be in writing and must request information already in existence. You may use our Online Public Request Form or Download the Public Information Request Form PDF to assist you in providing the necessary information, but the use of the form is not required. 
• If you are requesting body-worn camera video, please use the Body Camera Video Request Form and see the FAQs page for a description of information that must be provided in your request.
• Many City records contain confidential information, which must be redacted before the record is released. Click here for a listing of information that will automatically be redacted from all records.
• Sometimes a record contains confidential information that the City cannot redact/withhold without permission. In these cases, the City must request a ruling from the Texas Attorney General's Office as to whether or not the information should be released to you. See the FAQs page for more information about this process.
• Some requests will incur costs, but the requestor will receive and agree to these estimated charges before the request is processed. View an example of an itemized statement of charges.

For more information, please visit our FAQs page

Online Public Request Form

To submit an open records request, you may hand-deliver or mail your written request to:

Delivery: City of Brenham Office of the City Secretary 200 W. Vulcan St., Ste. 206 Brenham, TX 77833

Mail: City of Brenham Office of the City Secretary P.O. Box 1059 Brenham, TX 77834-1059

You may also submit a request via fax or email. Please direct the communication to the City Secretary's Office as follows:

Fax: 979-337-7568

E-mail: jbellinger@cityofbrenham.org and/or kstack@cityofbrenham.org

 

If you need assistance submitting your request, please call Legal and Legislative Services Manager Karen Stack at 979-337-7564.

The City of Brenham is subject to the Open Meetings Act and the Public Information Act. As required by the Texas Government Code, this Public Information Act sign is displayed where it is plainly visible to members of the public requesting information (City Hall - 200 W. Vulcan St., outside Ste. 202).

Additional resources for Public Information

• Texas Attorney General's Website: www.oag.state.tx.us
• Open Government Hotline: 512-478-OPEN (6736) or Toll-free at 877-OPEN TEX (673-6839)

Cost Notification

The Public Information Act (Chapter 552 of the Texas Government Code) allows Governmental Bodies to recover some of the costs associated with fulfilling requests.  The Texas Attorney General sets the maximum allowable fees for these services.  These maximum allowable costs are updated periodically, and outlined in Texas Administrative Code, Title 1, Chapter 70.  Section 2-44.1 of the City of Brenham Code of Ordinances adopts the Texas Attorney General’s fee schedule.

The current fees for the production of public records are as follows:

• Media charges
  • Ten cents ($0.10) per page for standard paper copies
  • Fifty cents ($0.50) per page for oversize copies
  • Rewritable CD - $1.00 each
  • Rewritable DVD - $3.00 each
  • USB drives – actual cost
  • All other media formats – actual cost
• Labor Charges
  • $15.00 per hour for requests of more than 50 pages. This includes actual time to locate, compile, manipulate data, and reproduce the requested information.  All requests received from the same requestor in any 30-day period will be combined to calculate the number of pages. 
  • Special labor charges for repeat requestors: During a fiscal year (October 1 through September 30), the City will spend a maximum of thirty-six (36) hours on any single requestor.  After 36 hours, the City may recover actual personnel costs.
• Overhead Charges
  • Twenty percent (20%) of any labor costs charged for the request
• Postage
  • Actual cost (no charge for e-mail, fax, or pickup)
• Body-worn Camera Recordings
  • $10.00 per recording AND
  • $1.00 per full minute of body-worn camera video or audio footage unless identical information has already been obtained by a member of the public in response to a request.

Requestors will receive a written cost estimate if their request is estimated to be over forty dollars ($40.00).  All other requestors will receive an invoice upon fulfillment of their request.

Requestors may contact the Texas Attorney General’s Office with questions or complaints regarding costs.  The Open Government Hotline can be reached at 877-673-6839.