2019-10 - Adopt public records policy

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II. Assisting with Requests If a requester makes an ambiguous or overly broad request or has difficultly in making a request such that the City cannot reasonably identify what public records are being requested, the City is to provide the requester with an opportunity to revise the request. In doing so, the City shall assist the requester by informing the requester of the manner n which the department keeps its records. Should a request not be considered "routine", such as a request seeking a voluminous number of copies or requiring extensive research or review, the City department should, whenever practicable, follow-up with a response indicating that it is in receipt of the request and that responsive records will be promptly made available for inspection or copied within a reasonable period of time. The City may not limit the number of public records requests that a single individual can make, nor limit the number of public records that will be made available during a fixed period of time. When a public records request is made to examine a personnel file, the City department will, to the extent practicable, notify the employee that his or her records have been requested and, if known, the name of the individual making the request. Any request for law enforcement or firefighter personnel records shall be immediately forwarded to the Law department for redaction pursuant to the applicable statute. III. Making Records Available and Payment for Records Public records are available for inspection during regular business hours, with the exception of published holidays, and the City will provide copies of records within a reasonable period of time following the request. Records cannot always be made available for inspection or copying upon demand. Records must often be reviewed and non-public information removed before inspection or copying is permitted. The amount of time that records will be made available to a requester will depend upon, among other things, the number of records requested, the location of the records, the medium in which the records are stored, the need for legal review, and the need to redact information. The City department shall make available a copy of its records retention schedule upon request. The City General Retention Schedule can be requested from the Records Retention secretary via the Law Department. The City may require prepayment of costs associated with producing copies, including copying and mailing expenses. The City may only charge its actual costs of producing copies of the records. Paper copies- 5 cents per page; downloaded computer file on a compact disc- $1.00 a disk. IV. Denial of Records or Information contained in a Record When making a public record available for public inspection or copying, the City shall notify the requester of any redaction or make the redaction plainly visible. A redaction (i.e., removal of information) is permissible so long as authorized or required under applicable law. For example, Social Security numbers are to be removed from a document before it is released. Moreover, records containing intellectual property or trade secrets are not to be disclosed. If a record is ultimately denied, in part or in whole, the City shall provide the requester with an explanation, including legal authority, setting forth why the record was not provided. If the initial request was provided in writing, the explanation also shall be in writing. The City department is to contact the Law Department before denying any request in whole or in part -unless it has previously consulted with that office regarding applicable legal authority. V. Electronic Record Request System No later than December 31, 2019, the City shall implement an electronic system by which requestor can make requests through a link on the City's website. The system shall automatically track all requests in 2