The city of El Paso filed a petition to keep city elected officials' private emails not open to public-record searches.

City officials are trying to keep private emails private even if they have to do with city business.

The city sent a statement to KFOX 14 Thursday saying that the private correspondence between elected officials does not meet the statutory definition of open-record searches.

In short, the city claimed the ruling by the attorney general to make public the correspondence between city officials was wrong. Back in September, the attorney for activist Stephanie Townsend Allala, a major player trying to stop the demolition of City Hall, filed an open records request for all emails between city officials about the demolition of the building and the building of a downtown baseball stadium.

The emails, many of them on private accounts, were released to the public.

That's when city manager Joyce Wilson came under heavy scrutiny for reportedly belittling other city officials who opposed the demolition.

"We have ruled many times that if emails on a private computer are about the public's business, then they are open," the Attorney General's Office told KFOX14. "About 0.3 percent of all of our rulings per year are challenged in court."

The office also told KFOX14 they have not yet been served with the petition and cannot specifically comment on this case, because it is facing litigation.

Some concerned citizens gave their opinions on this matter on KFOX14's Facebook page.

"Any email account used for work purposes is no longer private ... Your own private email should be kept private ... End of story," Lee Rodriguez said.

"It's none of our business, keep them personal, we have too much to worry about & this is a non-issue," Eddie Moreno said.

The city is under strict order by its legal counsel not to comment on the case.

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