Director upholds Sandy City's redactions and denies Staley's request for unredacted records

The Department of Government Records denied Mr. Staley's appeal of Sandy City's GRAMA production, concluding the city conducted a reasonable search, certified the records provided, and redacted images appropriately to avoid disclosing content that could identify minors.

Mr. Staley argued the city had delayed compliance and that he had not received the 1,103 items the city said existed; he pressed that the city must give a factual basis for each redaction and provide the workbooks and images in a usable format. "I haven't seen them. I don't know if you did," he told the director, arguing he had been given only partial materials.

City counsel Mr. Robinson said Sandy City provided both redacted and unredacted records for in‑camera review and that two photographs were withheld because they showed unclothed underage females and therefore qualified as child sexual abuse material. He summarized released counts: "679 text messages released, 421 photographs released, 2 withheld… and 1 that we just can't account for," and said the WBK/ workbook files were provided in their native, obsolete format but the city was not required to reformat them.

After reviewing the records in camera, the director confirmed the counts and found Sandy City's search and redactions reasonable under Utah Code 63G-2-3022(d). The director also found the two withheld photographs properly determined to be nonrecords because they qualified as child sexual abuse material, and denied the appeal. The director will issue a written decision within seven business days.