The FOI Request Letter

Now that I have what I'm looking for, I can go about filling out my request letter to be sent to the Tarrant County Clerk.

Below is a copy of my letter, thanks to plenty of online models to tailor specifically to your request. The letter is pretty straightforward and I shouldn't have any problem getting the documents that I requested. It will be a maximum of ten days until I hear from someone, but I expect to hear in the next two days since I sent the request on Saturday. Stay tuned for the results!

13 December 2014

Tarrant County Clerk
Attn: Room B30
100 Weatherford Street
Fort Worth, Texas  76196-0401

Dear Public Official or Agency:

Under the Texas Public Information Act, §6252-17a et seq., I am requesting an opportunity to inspect or obtain copies of the following public records:

Property tax records of houses between the address 6300 Stockton Drive and 6400 Stockton Drive, Fort Worth, TX, 76132 over the past five years.

In order to help to determine my status to assess fees, you should know that I am a TCU student searching for these records for class. I understand that if I seek a copy of this record, there may be a copying fee. Please inform me of that cost prior to making the copy. I can be reached at 615-519-5299.

The Texas Public Information Act requires that you "promptly produce" the requested records unless, within 10 days, you have sought an Attorney General's Opinion.  If you expect a significant delay in responding to this request, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies or the ability to inspect the requested records.

If you choose to deny the request, then you are required to respond in writing and state the statutory exception authorizing the withholding of all or part of the public record and the name and title or position of the person responsible for the denial.

If there is a problem with my request, please contact me via telephone.

Thank you for your assistance on this matter.

Respectfully,

Tanner Giles
Fort Worth, TX, 76116
615-519-5299

What I'm Requesting

Finally! I'm back to wrap up the FOI project with a few more posts so stay tuned!

The next step in my project was to narrow down exactly what I wanted to send to the County Clerk. I had an idea to examine property tax records for a specific area in order to see how they had changed in the last five years. At first, I was going to inquire about the areas around TCU in light of the recent stories about the house-style dorm properties going up, but then I had a better idea.

Since the Chisholm Trail Parkway is a brand new highway that cuts through both residential and commercial areas, I was curious as to how it affected property value. I noticed that there was a neighborhood just south of the Oakmont Blvd. that had a street of houses facing the highway directly and I knew I wanted to inquire about that. The last five years will show the change from when there was no highway to the time of construction to when the highway was finished. I'll be interested to see how, if at all, anything has changed and if it is better or worse now that construction is finished. I'd certainly be aggravated if my house suddenly faced a toll highway, so I'm excited to get the documents!