CITY COUNCIL

CITY OF CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA
RESOLUTION 2014-059
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA ADOPTING CITY'S CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT RESPONSE POLICY

WHEREAS, the California Public Records Act (CPRA) is set forth in California Government
Code Section 6250 et seq. It is the policy of the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea that the CPRA be
construed broadly in favor of public disclosure consistent with the law. It is the policy of the
City of Carmel by the Sea to provide public access to all public documents, not exempt from
discl osure during regular City office hours. To that end, the purpose of this policy is to provide
procedural guidelines for disclosure of the City of Carmel by the Sea public record s pursuant to
the CPRA; and
WHEREAS, it is important the City maintain consistency in the process for respond ing to
California Public Records Act (CPRA) requests. This City Council Policy is to serve as guidance
and direction in processing the City's Public Records Act responses; and
WHEREAS, the City of Carmel -by-the-Sea adopt the Procedures for the CPRA and act within
the policy set forth; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARMELBY-THE-SEA DOES:
1. Adopt the California Public Records Act Response Policy Exhibit "A" to improve upon
the public access to all public documents, not exempt from disclosure during regular
office hours.
PASSED AND ADOPTED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA on
this 5th day of August 2014 by the following roll call vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:

5
0
0

COUNCIL MEMBERS: Talmage, Theis, Beach, Dallas, Burnett

COUNCIL MEMBERS:
COUNCIL MEMBERS:
APPROVED:

~~~ndf=

Jason Burnett, Mayor

Lori rontella, MMC, Interim City Clerk

General Ru les
Policy No. CP-2014-001

Exhibit "A"
Resolution 2014-059

Date Approved: 8-5-2014

City Council Approval: Resolution2014-059

THE CITY OF

Carmel-By-The-Sea
CITY COUNCIL POLICY

PUBLIC RECORDS RESPONSE POLICY

I.

PURPOSE
The California Public Records Act (CPRA) is set forth in California Government Code
Section 6250 et seq. It is the policy of the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea that the CPRA be
construed broadly in favor of public disclosure consistent with the law. It is the policy of
the City of Carmel by the Sea to provide public access to all publ ic documents, not exempt
from disclosure during regular City office hours. To that end, the purpose of this policy is
to provide procedural guidelines for disclosure of the City of Carme l by the Sea public
records pursuant to the CPRA.

II. POLICY
It is important the City maintain consistency in the process for responding to Ca lifornia
Public Records Act (CPRA) requests. This City Council Pol icy is to serve as guidance and
direction in processing the City's Public Records Act responses.
Ill. PROCEDURES

Whenever possible public records/documents should be made available at the time of

the request. There is no requirement that a requester seeking to view a public
record/document must put the request in writing.
It is the goal of the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea is to respond to PRAs as quickly as
possible.

Public Records Act requests for information received by any employee or official of the
City should be forwarded to the City Clerk's Office;

The City Clerk's Office:

Notify City Attorney and provides copy of request
maintains the Public Records Act request I media inquiry log,
assigns numbers to received requests,
refers the request to the appropriate Department Director(s), and
monitors deadlines apprising those involved in preparing the response of
impending deadlines,
maintains a record of the responses.

The Department Director is responsible for compiling the records and the substance of
the request, meeting deadlines, and requesting legal review by the City Attorney to
assure that produced documents comply with legal requirements of disclosure;

If at any time during the process there are legal questions concerning the validity of a
request or a possible exemption of a record , the City Clerk/Department Director shall
seek a legal opinion from the City Attorney.
When redactions are permitted they should be precise (individual words or
clauses versus sentences or paragraphs when possible).
For each redaction , as would be required if the redactions were challenged in
court, we need 1) the legal authority for the redaction , 2) why the authority
applies to the redaction (i.e. "there is a redaction in the first sentence of
paragraph 2, case X vs. X holds that social security numbers must not be
disclosed, this redaction is a social security number"). Such redactions shall be
documented in the redactions log.
If other information is withheld, it shall be noted in the redactions log.
The City Attorney shall provide written approval of the redactions log, if any, prior
to its dissemination.
The redactions log, if any, shall be included in the response to the party making
the CPRA request.

Transmittal letters should accompany the request, response documents, and the
redaction log. Transmittal letters should include:
The date of the response referencing the request and referencing any prior
correspondence relating to the request;
The City issued CPRA file number as reference;
The request from which the response is provided and authority for the response ;
Whether the response includes disclosable records;
Method for obtaining the response and any associated required payment;
The "specific knowledge" paragraph: "Every effort has been made to search for
all of the records which might fall within the scope of your records request, and,
as such, the City believes that its search is quite thorough . However, if you have
knowledge of a specific document which has not been provided in response to
your requests, please notify the City and the City will be happy to search for and,
if found ; provide the document(s) to you unless, of course, it is exempt from
disclosure pursuant to Government Code 6254 and/or other applicable privilege."
The "legal authority" paragraph: "If you are aware of any legal authority that
would require disclosure of documents in addition to those identified above,
please advise the undersigned and the City will reconsider its position
accordingly."