Open records

SYRACUSE — The appointment of a new police chief has been delayed following a lengthy disagreement Tuesday about whether resumes of prospective candidates legally should have been made available to all members of the city council before this week.

The council voted 3-2 to table a motion to appoint Garret Atkin, currently a Layton police lieutenant, as the new chief to replace Brian Wallace, who is retiring. The vote followed a sometimes pointed exchange among members of the council, Mayor Jamie Nagle and members of the city staff, including Wallace and Fire Chief Eric Froerer.

OGDEN -- The Utah Attorney General's Office is asking the courts to reverse a State Records Committee decision ordering the release of documents to activist Dan Schroeder involving a probe of former political organization Envision Ogden.

Scott Jenkins, Peter Knudson and Stuart Adams don't get it.

Neither do Stuart Reid, Allen Christensen nor Jerry Stevenson.

These are some of the state senators representing the Top of Utah who still insist House Bill 477, which guts Utah's Government Records Access Management Act, better known as GRAMA, shouldn't be repealed.

Basically, HB477 allows them to keep secret text messages and e-mails they send to and receive from lobbyists, contract bidders and their legislative cohorts so you don't know what's behind their governance.

SALT LAKE CITY -- The national Society of Professional Journalists plans to present Utah Gov. Gary Herbert with a first-ever Black Hole award to highlight a new state law increasing fees for records request and making text messages private.