TITLE
Recommendation to request a report be given to City Council from both the City Clerk and City Attorney within 30 days regarding the feasibility of:
Adoption of the California Secretary of State's Local Government Record Management Guidelines for all elected officals and City departments; and
Amending the Municipal Code to require that public records survive the transition of elected officials, and to provice specific penalties for failure to comply.
DISCUSSION
Whenever elected officials and/or public employees create information related to public business, they are creating a public record. Public records are the heart of government operations. These records:
Are created for the citizens, Are the property of the citizens, Are protected in the interest of citizens, Are an historical record of how the government served the needs of the citizens, and Are historical, legal, administrative or fiscal records. The California Public Records Act (PRA) (Government Code, Section 6250 et seq.) which is modeled after the federal Freedom of Information Act and details what government information is, and is not, available to the public.
In general, all records are open to the public except 28 specific exemption categories listed in RA, Section 6254. The PRA applies to all records, in whatever form, maintained by either state or local public agencies. The State Records Management Act (Government Code, Section 14740- 14774) requires the Director of the Department of General Services (DGS) to establish and administer the state’s records management program. The program applies “ ... to the creation, utilization, maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposal of state records.’’ Legislation and directives establishing the state Records Management Program do not apply to local government, county and/or city government agencies do not have a standardized program of accountability for their
treatment of public records. Nor does local government have standard . re...
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