Richmond Municipal Code Ch. 2.40 Public Information

(a) Public Information. As used in this chapter, "public information" includes the content of "public records" as defined in California Public Records Act (Government Code Section 6252), whether provided in documentary form or in oral communication.

(a) Release of documentary public information, whether for inspection of the original or by providing a copy, shall be governed by the California Public Records Act (Government Code Sections 6250, et seq.) in any particulars not addressed by this chapter.

(b) Inspection and copying of documentary public information stored in electronic form shall be made available to the person requesting the information in any reasonable form which is available to the City, its officers or employees, including disk, tape, printout, monitor or modem, at a charge no greater than the actual cost to the Agency if it were preparing the information for the use of an officer or employee.

Release of oral public information shall be accomplished as follows:

(a) Information consisting of facts about or known to the City, unless exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act and not disclosable under this chapter, may be released to a telephone caller or an office visitor by any City employee conversant with the information. One or more brief factual questions shall be answered as soon as the employee has obtained the information. More extensive information may be confined to an interview by appointment or by reference to information in documentary form. No City employee shall be prevented from or disciplined for releasing such nonexempt factual information.

(b) Information concerning the City's policies, positions on public issues, plans or intentions, or reactions to events may be released to a telephone caller or office visitor by the person with primary policy responsibility for the subject matter or by his or her designated spokesman. Employees not authorized to provide such information may be prevented from doing so.

(c) City employees shall not be discouraged from or disciplined for the expression of their personal opinions on any matter, so long as the opinion is not represented as that of the City and does not misrepresent the City's position.

(a) The City shall maintain file, accessible to any member of the public during office hours, containing a copy of any letter, memorandum or other communication sent to or received from a quorum of the City Council irrespective of subject matter origin or recipient, except that commercial solicitations, periodical publications or communications exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Government Code Sections 6250, et seq.) and not deemed disclosable under Section 2.40.050 of this chapter.

(b) Communications sent or received in the last three business days shall be maintained in chronological order in the City Manager's office of the City or at a place nearby, clearly designated to the public. At the close of each business day, documents entered in the file two days earlier may be removed and placed in a monthly chronological file. On the final business day of each month, the copies in the monthly file may be filed with their respective originals, sold in bulk to any purchaser at a price of no more than 10 cents per page, or otherwise maintained or disposed of.

(c) Multiple-page reports, studies or analyses which are accompanied by a letter or memorandum of transmittal need not be included in the file so long as the letter or memorandum of transmittal is included.

Notwithstanding the City's legal discretion to withhold certain information under the California Public Records Act, the following policies shall govern specific types of documents and information.

(a) Litigation Material.

(1) No prelitigation claim against the City, or any other record previously received or created by the City in the ordinary course of business, shall be exempt from disclosure under Government Code Section 6254, subdivision (b).

(2) When litigation is finally adjudicated or otherwise settled, records of all communications between the City and the adverse party shall be subject to disclosure, including the text and terms of any settlement. Counsel for the City shall not solicit or agree to any settlement term which would restrict immediate public disclosure of all terms and communications between parties, and any such term shall render a settlement agreement void and unenforceable.

(b) Personal Information. None of the following shall be exempt from disclosure under Government Code Section 6254, subdivision (c):

(1) The job pool characteristics and employment and education histories of all job applicants, including at a minimum the following information as to each applicant:

i. Sex, age and ethnic group;

ii. Years of graduate and undergraduate study, degree(s) and major or discipline;

iii. Years of employment in the private and/or public sector;

iv. Whether currently employed in the same position for another public agency;

v. Other nonidentifying particulars as to experience, credentials, aptitudes, training or education entered in or attached to a standard employment application form used for the position in question.

(2) The professional biography or curriculum vitae of every employee of the City.

(3) The job description of every employee of the City.

(4) The exact salary and benefit package of every employee of the City.

(5) Any memorandum of understanding between City and one or more employees.

(6) The record of any confirmed misconduct of a City employee involving personal dishonesty, misappropriation of public funds, resources or benefits, unlawful discrimination against another on the basis of status, abuse of authority, or violence; and of any discipline imposed for such misconduct.

(c) Contracts, Bids and Proposals. Contracts, contractor's bids, responses to requests for proposals, and all other records of communication between the City and persons or firms seeking contracts shall be open to inspection after a contract has been awarded.

(d) Budgets or Other Financial Information. Budgets, whether tentative, proposed or adopted, for the City or any of its departments, programs, projects or other categories, and all bills, claims, invoices, vouchers or other records of payment obligations as well as records of actual disbursements showing the amount paid, the payee and the purpose for which payment is made, other than records for social or other services whose records are confidential by law, shall not be considered exempt from disclosure under any circumstances.

(e) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to abrogate the provisions of Penal Code Section 832.7.

Whenever the City asserts, as a justification for nondisclosure of information, the exemption protecting personal privacy in Government Code Section 6254(c), the exemption for names and addresses of crime victims in Government Code Section 6254(f)(2), the exemption for taxpayer information in Government Code Section 6254(i), any confidentiality or privilege statute referenced under Government Code Section 6254(k) under which the subject of the record would have access to the record under the Information Practices Act (Civil Code Sections 1798, et seq.), the exemption for personal financial data in Government Code Section 6254(n), and any other argued exemption based upon the personal or proprietary interests of a private natural or corporate person, the City shall cooperate with the requester's efforts to communicate with the subject of the information as follows, upon request, if the requester fulfills the related terms and conditions.

(a) If the requester is seeking information concerning an unknown number of persons, the City shall inform the requester of the number of persons to whom the information request pertains. If ascertaining that number requires more than 15 minutes of staff time in research, the requester may be required to pay that extra increment of time at the pro rata hourly salary rate of the City employee conducting the research.

(b) The requester shall prepare one stamped envelope for each of the persons sought to be contacted, with the requester's return address on the envelope. Within the envelope the requester shall place a "To Whom it May Concern" letter explaining, if so desired, why the information is being sought, but in any event asking the person to contact the requester. The requester may also include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for that purpose. The envelope shall be sealed and presented to the City for mailing.

(c) The City shall affix to each envelope so received the mailing address of the person who is the subject of the information request and shall mail it. Any staff time required to do so shall, at the City's option, be required to be paid by the requested, at the pro rata hourly rate of the employee addressing the envelopes.

(d) Thereafter, the issue of release of the information shall be at the option of the person to whom the record pertains. If that person signs a privacy waiver prepared by the City, the record shall be released to the requester. If the person requests a copy of the record for his own review, the City shall comply with the request unless expressly prohibited from doing so by State or federal law, and in that event shall cite to the requester the statute prohibiting the release to the subject of the record.

(e) If the subject of the record is legally incompetent to waive privacy interests, the City shall address the requester's envelope to the parent, guardian, conservator or judicial officer, as the case may be, with the duty and authority to make such decisions for the incompetent persons.

(a) Public records shall be open to inspection at all times during the office hours of the City Clerk and every person has the right to inspect any public record, except for those exempted from disclosure by the California Public Records Act. Any reasonably segregable portion of a record shall be available for inspection by any person requesting the record after deletion of the portions that are exempted by law.

(b) Except with respect to public records exempt from disclosure by express provisions of law, upon a request for a copy of records that reasonably describes an identifiable record or records, the pertinent City staff person shall make the records promptly available to any person upon payment of fees covering direct costs of duplication, or a statutory fee if applicable. Upon request, an exact copy shall be provided unless impracticable to do so.

(c) Upon a request for a copy of records, the pertinent City staff person shall, within 10 days from receipt of the request, determine whether the request, in whole or in part, seeks copies of disclosable public records in the possession of the City and shall promptly notify the person making the request of the determination and the reasons therefore. In unusual circumstances, the time limit prescribed in this section may be extended by written notice by the City Manager or said City Manager's designee to the person making the request, setting forth the reasons for the extension and the date on which a determination is expected to be dispatched. No notice shall specify a date that would result in an extension for more than 14 days. When the City dispatches the determination, and if the City determines that the request seeks disclosable public records, the City shall state the estimated date and time when the records will be made available. As used in this section, "unusual circumstances" means the following, but only to the extent reasonably necessary to the proper processing of the particular request:

(1) The need to search for and collect the requested records from field facilities or other establishments that are separate from the office processing the request.

(2) The need to search for, collect, and appropriately examine a voluminous amount of separate and distinct records that are demanded in a single request.

(3) The need for consultation, which shall be conducted with all practicable speed, with another agency having substantial interest in the determination of the request or among two or more components of the agency having substantial subject matter interest therein.

(4) The need to compile data, to write programming language or a computer program, or to construct a computer report to extract data.

(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit the City to delay or obstruct the inspection or copying of public records. The notification of denial of any request for records shall set forth the names and titles or positions of each person responsible for the denial.

(Amended by Ordinance No. 42-05 N.S.)

No record shall be withheld from disclosure in its entirety unless all information contained in it is exempt from disclosure under express provisions of the California Public Records Act or of some other statute.

Information that is exempt from disclosure shall be masked, deleted or otherwise segregated in order that the nonexempt portion of a requested record may be released, and keyed by a footnote or other clear reference to the appropriate justification for withholding required by Section 2.40.090 of this chapter.

Any withholding of information shall be justified, in writing, as follows:

(a) A withholding under a permissive exemption in the California Public Records Act or elsewhere shall cite that authority and explain in practical terms, citing one or more examples, as to how the public interest would be harmed by disclosure.

(b) A withholding on the basis that disclosure is prohibited by law shall site the statutory authority in the Public Records Act or elsewhere.

(c) A withholding on the basis that disclosure would incur civil or criminal liability shall cite any statutory or case law, or any other public agency's litigation experience, supporting that position.

No fee shall be charged for making public records available for review. For documents routinely produced in multiple copies for distribution, e.g., meeting agendas and related materials, a fee not to exceed ten cents per page may be charged, plus any postage costs. For documents assembled and copied to the order of the requester, a fee not to exceed 10 cents per page may be charged, plus any postage.

The City shall cooperate with any voluntary effort by an interested and competent individual or organization to compile a master index to the types of records it maintains, including those it creates and those it receives in the ordinary course of business. The index shall be for the use of City officials, staff and the general public, and shall be organized to permit a general understanding of the types of information maintained, by which officials and departments, for which purposes and for what periods of retention, and under what manner of organization for accessing; e.g., by reference to a name, a date, a proceeding or project, or some other referencing system. The index need not be in such detail as to identify files or records concerning a specific person, transaction or other event, but shall clearly indicate where and how records of that type are kept. Any such master index shall be reviewed by appropriate staff for accuracy and presented to the City Council for formal adoption. Any changes in the City's practices or procedures that would affect the accuracy of the index shall thereafter be reported by the responsible staff to the City Council as the basis for a corresponding revision of the index.

Within the first year after the adoption of this chapter, the City staff shall report to the City Council on the practical or policy problems encountered in the administration of the chapter. Recommended amendments shall be presented to the City Council for public review prior to adoption. Thereafter, amendments shall be proposed as the further experience of the City Council warrants. The City Council may amend this chapter at any regular or special meeting.

(Source: Resolution No. 247-93)