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HomeMy WebLinkAboutReso - CC - 074-2008RESOLUTION NO. 74-2008 RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURLINGAME APPROVING CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT PROCEDURES RESOLVED, by the City Council of the City of Burlingame: WHEREAS, the City Clerk has prepared procedures for responses to Public Records Act requests; and WHEREAS, these procedures will provide guidance and resources to City staff when requests for public records are received; and WHEREAS, these procedures will also inform the public on how responses will be made, NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS RESOLVED AND ORDERED: 1. The California Public Records Act Procedures contained in Exhibit A hereto are approved. 0.e" MAYOR I, DORIS MORTENSEN, City Clerk of the City of Burlingame, do hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council held on the 2.nd t_day ofggptemher . 2008, and was adopted thereafter by the following vote: AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: BAYLom, DEAL, KuGmm, NAGEL, olmuoNY NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS:NONE TY CLERK City of Burlingame Administrative Policy If a written request for information is denied in whole or in part, the denial shall be in writing and shall contain the explicit reasons for denial of access to the subject records, as well as the names and titles or positions of each person responsible for the denial. Section 4 Fees and Charges In most situations, the City will not charge fees to cover the time and costs incurred in searching for, locating or collecting records. The City, however, may charge for the actual costs of duplicating paper copies of records and postage, consistent with the amounts set forth in City's Schedule of Fees. The City may also charge for duplication Costs in another medium in accordance with the amounts set forth in the Schedule of Fees (e.g. copying video or cassette tapes). Requestors of electronic records shall pay for production costs, including the cost to construct the record and the cost of programming and computer services necessary to produce the copy if the request would require the production of a record that is otherwise only produced at regularly scheduled intervals, or the request would require data compilation, extraction, or programming to produce the record. Section 6 Department Procedures Each City Department shall establish procedures to be followed when making its records available for public inspection consistent with the provisions set forth below. If any question exists as to whether any record, or portion of any record, is exempt from disclosure, it is the responsibility of the head of the Department, or his or her designee, to contact the City Attorney promptly within the time frame for responding to a public records request for advice. Subd. 1 Department Representatives Each Department shall designate a person or persons, who will be responsible for responding to requests for records and coordinating the response with other City Departments, when appropriate. Departments that have more than one division within the Department shall assign a person or persons who will be responsible for coordinating and responding to requests for records and information that overlap different divisions within the Department. Subd. 2 Department Coordination If a request seeks information from more than one department, the request shall be forwarded to the designated representative in the City Manager's Office and the representative of all other interested departments. The City Manager's representative will coordinate and respond to the request with the assistance of each of the Department representatives. If a request for records is directed to a department that does not maintain or have custody of the records, then the representative shall promptly attempt to identify the appropriate department and forward the request to the responsible department for preparation of a response. In the event a request is forwarded to another department for a response, the requestor shall be given notice of the referral to another department and contact information for the Department who will be preparing the response. Section 7 Coordination with the City Attorney's Office September 2008 City of Burlingame Administrative Policy If a request for records seeks the production of records or documents that are not in existence at the time the request is made, the City is not obligated to create a document in order to respond to the request. Section 9 Common Exemptions From Disclosure There are certain categories of documents that are generally not subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act. These include, but are not limited to: (1) preliminary drafts of certain documents that are not retained by the City in the ordinary course of business; (2) records related to pending litigation; (3) attorney-client communications; (4) personnel records, medical information, or other similar records the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; (5) corporate, financial and proprietary information, including trade secrets; and (6) records protected by State or Federal law. If the Department (after consultation with the City Attorney's Office when appropriate or when the exemption is not clear) determines that the records sought in a written request for records are not subject to disclosure either in whole or in part, then the Department shall advise the requester in writing that the records will not be made available and include the reasons why access is being denied, as well as the names and titles or positions of each person responsible for the denial. Section 10 Responding to Requests for Particular Documents The following procedures shall apply when responding to requests for these particular categories of documents: Subd. 1 Disclosure of Preliminary Drafts Preliminary drafts of documents kept in the ordinary course of business, including drafts of agreements, which are kept and preserved after final action has been taken, shall be disclosed if requested. Subd. 2 Disclosure of Litigation Materials When litigation in which the City is a party is finally adjudicated or otherwise settled, records of communications between the City and the adverse party in the litigation shall be subject to disclosure including the text and terms of any settlement agreement between the parties. Such disclosure shall not apply to records that are otherwise privileged under federal or state law, such as attomey-client communications, or to records sealed by the court or where disclosure is otherwise limited by the court. Subd. 3 Disclosure of Information Relatinq to Contracts. Bids and Proposals September 2008 City of Burlingame Administrative Policy E-mail shall be treated the same as other written documents. If the e-mail is kept in the ordinary course of business, it is a public record unless it falls within some exception to disclosure under the Public Records Act. Section 11 No Change To Records Retention Schedule This procedure for disclosure of public records does not obligate City departments to retain documents beyond the period of time designated for the department in the City's record retention policy. In the event a request for records is received prior to its destruction under the City's record retention policy, the requested records will be provided. September 2008