Title
Hearing on Sunshine Ordinance Complaint Concerning Alleged Failure to Respond Timely to Public Records Act Request
Body
To: Honorable Members of the Open Government Commission
From: John D. L?, Assistant City Attorney
Re: Hearing on Sunshine Ordinance Complaint Filed May 29, 2019
Background
This complaint concerns an alleged violation of the Alameda Municipal Code (AMC), section 2-92 (PUBLIC INFORMATION) by complainant Rasheed Shabazz (Complainant), a current member of the Open Government Commission.
The complaint alleges the following facts:
* On January 22, 2019, Complainant submits records request to the Chief of Police and the City Clerk via email. The Chief of Police responded the same day, forwarding the request to the City Attorney's Office.
* On March 22, 2019 and April 30, 2019, Complainant sent follow-up emails to the City Attorney's Office concerning the request.
On May 29, 2019, Complainant visited the City Attorney's Office in person. Later, he filed the current complaint with the Clerk's Office. Complainant sought records governed by California Penal Code section 832.7, as amended by SB 1421 (e.g., incidents involving the discharge of a firearm at a person, etc.). That same day, after the current complaint was filed, Complainant received an email response from Alan Cohen, Chief Litigation Counsel of the Alameda City Attorney's Office stating no responsive records were available ("[T]here are no responsive records to your request during the period encompassing January 1, 2014 to the present..."). See Exhibit 1.
On June 10, 2019 (after the complaint was filed, but before the hearing was set), the City Attorney's Office reached out via email to the Complainant to informally resolve the matter in light of the facts, but did not receive a response. Accordingly, the matter was set for hearing.
Discussion
In relevant part, subdivision (c) of section 2-93.2 (Responsibilities of Staff) of the Sunshine Ordinance provides:
Every "Custo...
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