Public information board shouldn’t have dismissed complaint, court rules
IPIB Court Ruling
by Clark Kauffman, Iowa Capital Dispatch
February 25, 2026
The Iowa Public Information Board has been handed a defeat in the Iowa Court of Appeals, which has upheld a lower court action reversing the board’s dismissal of a public-records complaint.
The board had appealed a district court ruling that reversed the board’s order dismissing an Iowa Open Records Law complaint against the City of West Des Moines, filed by Hendrik Van Pelt of Clayton County.
The board argued that it had correctly dismissed Van Pelt’s complaint because the specific documents Van Pelt sought from the city belonged to a third-party contractor who was not performing a fundamental governmental duty or function.
The Court of Appeals ruled otherwise on Wednesday, noting that the city was a party to its written agreement with the contractor, and thus the entire agreement between the two, including the documents sought by Van Pelt, belong to the city as much as to the contractor
The ruling affirms a similar finding by a district court judge, which means the board’s decision to dismiss Van Pelt’s complaint is reversed and the matter is now remanded back to the board for further proceedings.
Van Pelt said Wednesday he’s pleased with the court’s decision, but remains discouraged by IPIB’s decision to dismiss his complaint and then appeal the district court’s decision.
He said the vast majority of the complaints alleging violations of the Iowa Open Records Law wind up being dismissed by the board — in some cases with the board finding a violation has occurred but then dismissing the matter anyway.
“It’s a little concerning that in my case, we’ve had to go to all these lengths just to get IPIB to look at a complaint, essentially,” he said.
IPIB’s legal counsel, Alexander Lee, declined to comment on the matter Wednesday. The Iowa Capital Dispatch was not able to reach the board’s executive director, Charlotte Miller, for comment.
The dispute stems from a 2023 contract the City of West Des Moines signed with the Flock Group Inc. to install cameras on public roads to capture vehicle information and send notifications to the city. The data purportedly was used to help the city gather evidence related to stolen cars, missing persons and other police investigations.
The contract required both the city and the company to agree on the designated locations, positions, and angles of the cameras, all of which would be included in a so-called “deployment plan.” The contract dictated that the “entire agreement” between the city and Flock included the deployment plan, which the city ultimately reviewed and approved.
Van Pelt asked the city to provide him with a copy of the contract with Flock, including the deployment plan. The city produced the contract, but withheld the deployment plan, asserting that it never retained a copy so there was nothing to produce.
In refusing the request for the deployment plan, the city asserted that its staff had merely “reviewed a map online to approve it, but did not create the map, print it, or save the record in any other means.” The city argued the deployment plan was not a public record because it was not physically in the city’s possession and the city had no legal obligation to print it out, create a copy or request a copy from Flock.
Van Pelt complained to the Iowa Public Information Board, alleging the city acted illegally in denying access to the deployment plan. The board dismissed the complaint without investigation, reasoning that city officials had provided Van Pelt with “all the records in their possession.”
In February 2024, Van Pelt took the board to court, seeking judicial review of the dismissal. The district court ruled in his favor, finding that while the deployment plan was not “of or belonging to” the city, the city had hired Flock to have it perform a basic governmental function —“facilitating law enforcement’s ability to enhance its purpose and function” — and so the deployment plan was a public record subject to disclosure.
The Iowa Public Information Board appealed that ruling, which led to Wednesday’s decision upholding the district court’s decision.
– Iowa Court of Appeals
“The board asserts that Flock created the document and the city has never physically possessed the record, defeating any conclusion that the record ‘belongs to’ the city,” the appeals court stated in its ruling. “We disagree… While the city never obtained a physical copy of the plan, it did receive and review an electronic copy. And because the plan is expressly incorporated into the contract itself, the city, as a party to the contract, always has a right to the document. Thus, the entire contract between the city and its contractor ‘belongs to’ the city, and so the deployment plan falls within the definition of a public record subject to examination.”
Noting that it still is undisputed that the city chose not to take physical custody of the deployment plan, the court said the request for access to it “does not invade Flock’s private corporate files,” but instead asks for one element of the contract between the city and Flock.
“Regardless of its decision to retain a physical copy, the contract belongs to the city just as much as it belongs to Flock,” the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled. “The city is charged with producing public records that exist and are readily available to it.”
Van Pelt’s complaint, the court added, sufficiently claims the deployment plan belongs to the city, and not just to Flock, and was readily available to the city when Van Pelt requested access to it.
The court noted that Van Pelt’s court case was limited in scope in that it sought judicial review of the board’s decision to dismiss his complaint without conducting any sort of an investigation – and so the merits of Van Pelt’s underlying complaint that the city has violated the Open Records Law is not yet at issue.
“We express no opinion on the ultimate merits of the complaint or whether any confidentiality exceptions that have not yet been asserted by the city could apply,” the court stated.
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com.
