TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: County Counsel
MEETING DATE: June 21, 2022
DEPARTMENT CONTACT:
Christian Curtis
PHONE:
707-234-6885
ITEM TYPE: Regular Agenda
TIME ALLOCATED FOR ITEM: 45 min.
AGENDA TITLE:
title
Discussion and Possible Action Introduction and Waive First Reading of an Ordinance Adding Chapter 5.190 Relating to Fees for Public Records Act Requests
(Sponsor: County Counsel)
End
RECOMMENDED ACTION/MOTION:
recommendation
Introduce and waive first reading of an ordinance adding Chapter 5.190 relating to fees for Public Records Act requests.
End
PREVIOUS BOARD/BOARD COMMITTEE ACTIONS:
None.
SUMMARY OF REQUEST:
Under the California Public Records Act, the County of Mendocino is required to provide any requester copies of disclosable public records and to assist in locating and identifying records that are responsive to such requests. Over the last two years, the number of public records requests has doubled, to the point that the County now receives approximately 4.7 online records requests per business day. Many of these requests require a large amount of manual review, as they use broad search terms for electronic records (such as email) that comingle public information and non-disclosable information subject to privacy laws or other exemptions. As a result, County Counsel currently estimates that approximately 20%-30% of attorney time is spent reviewing records or responding to requests for records.
Currently, the County only charges a requester the cost of direct duplication, and all staff time identifying, locating, and reviewing records is born by the County. By statute, however, the County is authorized to charge requesters a fee up to the amount of its actual cost to provide the requested materials, if that fee is imposed by ordinance. Several other counties have enacted such ordinances to impose fees on those requests that consume more the two hours of such staff time. County Counsel is proposing that this...
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