Title
Action on Open Government Commission’s Written Decision Following a Hearing on a Sunshine Ordinance Complaint Concerning a Failure to Respond Timely to a Public Records Act Request
Body
To: Chair and Members of the Open Government Commission
From: Michael Roush, Assistant City Attorney
Re: Action on Open Government Commission’s Written Decision Following a Hearing on a Sunshine Ordinance Complaint Concerning a Failure to Respond Timely to a Public Records Act Request
BACKGROUND
On July 23, 2019, the Open Government Commission (Commissioner Schwartz, absent and Commissioner Shabazz, recused) heard a complaint that Commissioner Shabazz had filed that a Public Records Act request that he had made on January 22, 2019 had not been responded to in a timely manner under the Sunshine Ordinance. The agenda item concerning that matter is attached.
The Commission sustained the complaint but directed that the draft written Decision did not fully embrace the concerns of the Commission and therefore requested that this item be continued to its meeting in October and that the Decision be revised. There was not a quorum at the Commission’s October 7, 2019 meeting so the matter has been continued to the Commission’s special meeting on December 18, 2019.
DISCUSSION
The attached draft Decision largely tracks the prior draft Decision, sustains the complaint but eliminates the reference to the violation as a “technical” violation. The Decision also adds a paragraph that the Commission emphatically reminds all City Departments and their Custodian of Records that the community and the Commission expect that there will be strict adherence to acknowledging receipt of public record act requests and producing records in response to public records requests in a timely manner as provided in the Sunshine Ordinance and a recommendation that the Commission be provided, as part of the annual report, a spread sheet showing the number of public records received by the City Attorney’s office, whether records were produced in response, and the timing of such responses.
RECOMMENATION
Staff recommends that Commissioners Henneberry, Little and Tilos sign the attached Decision.
Michael Roush
Assistant City Attorney
Attachments
1. Agenda Item 3-B from the Commission’s July 23, 2019 meeting
2. Draft Decision sustaining the complaint of Commissioner Shabazz