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CITY OF SAN BER~RbINO - REQUESTOOR COUNCIL ACTION
From: Rachel Clark, City Clerk
De~: City Clerk's Office
Date: _ December 14, 1994
Resolution establishing revised
Subject: procedural rules and regulations
for access to public records under
the California Public Records Act.
requiring the payment of fees for
copies and certification of public
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Synopsis of Previous Council action:
August 24, 1970, the Mayor and Common Council adopted
Resolution No. 10384.
February 2, 1976, the Mayor and Common Council adopted
Resolution No. 12319.
December 19, 1983, the Mayor and Common Council adopted
Resolution No. 83-459.
.~DI4Hl . ((\Fb'LlIGvember 7, 1988, the Mayor and Common Council adopted
Resolution No. 88-423.
14 DEe 9til: 50
Recommended motion:
That said resolution be adopted. and that the City Clerk be directed to
conduct a surVey of reproduction costs charged by other cities, and
report back to the Ways and Means Committee no later than February
8, 1995 with a recommendation on whether the City's current
reproduction costs should be changed.
C(~ ~re
Contact person: Rachel Clark, City Clerk
Phone:
ext. 5102
Yes
Ward:
All
Supporting data attached:
FUNDING REQUIREMENTS:
Amount:
Source: (Acct. No.)
(Acct. Descriotion)
Finance:
Council Notes:
7!'io.0262
Agenda Item No
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CITY OF SAN BER~RDINO - REQUEST ~R COUNCIL ACTION
STAFF REPORT
FROM:
HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF rHE CITY COUNCIL
RACHEL CLARK, CITY CLERK
TO:
DATE:
RE:
DECEMBER 14, 1994
COUNCIL SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA ITEM FOR DECEMBER 19,
1994 RE: RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING REVISED
PROCEDURAL RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR ACCESS TO
PUBLIC RECORDS UNDER THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RECORDS
ACT; REQUIRING THE PAYMENT OF FEES FOR COPIES AND
CERTIFICATION OF PUBLIC RECORDS; AND REPEALING
RESOLUTION NO. 88-423.
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The California Public Records Act (Government Code Section 6250 et
seq.) provides that copies of public records shall be made
available to requesting individuals "upon payment of fees covering
direct costs of duplication, or a statutory fee, if applicable."
(Government Code Section 6257) .
Resolution Nos. 10384, 12319, 83-459, and 88-423 have been adopted
establishing and revising procedural rules and regulations for
public records and setting fees for copies and certification of
records.
Resolution No. 88-423, which is in effect at this time, includes
Section 4 which imposes a $15.00 per hour research cost for
compiling documents, with no fee charged for the first 15 minutes.
The City Attorney's Office has notified the Mayor and Council and
all departments that pursuant to North County Parents Orqanization
vs. DeDartment of Education (19.94) 23 Cal.App. 4th 144, Section 4
of Resolution Number 88-423 is invalid; therefore, this office has
prepared the attached Resolution which removes Section 4 and
repeals Resolution No. 88-423. Attached is a copy of City Attorney
Penman's Memorandum, dated December 5, 1994, for your reference.
Coupled with this request to adopt the attached Resolution is a
request that the City Clerk's Office be directed to conduct a
survey of copying charges imposed by other cities and recommend to
. the Ways and Means Committee, no later than February 8, 1995,
whether or not the City'S copying charges should be changed. An
initial survey of a few neighboring cities revealed that our costs
are comparable; however, in light of the above-referenced case,
75-0264
Honorable Mayor and
December 14, 1994
Page Two
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Members of the City Council
it is recommended that we look into the current copying fee
schedule and submit a recomendation.
REOUESTED ACTION:
MOTION #1:
MOTION #2:
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CITY CLERK
Attachments
Adopt Resolution.
That the City Clerk be directed to conduct a
survey of reproduction costs charged by other
cities, and report back to the Ways and Means
Committee no later than February 8, 1995 with
a recommendation on whether the City's current
reproduction costs should be changed.
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C I T Y
OF SAN BERNARDINO
INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
..00 mmmuWlm lID
DEe 0 199~
FROM:
Tom Minor and Common Council
James F. Penman ~
NECESSITY TO REVI~ESOLUTION NUMBER
COSTS OF PUBLIC RECORDS
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
TIME:
TO:
SUBJECT:
88-423 - FEES FOR
DATE:
5 December 1994
CC:
City Clerk, City Treasurer, City Administrator, Division
and Department Heads
Pursuant to North County Parents Organization vs. Department of
Education (1994) 23 Cal.App. 4th 144, Section 4 of Resolution
Number 88-423 is ~nvalid. Please refer to Mr. Barlow's memorandum
of November 14, 1994 (copy attached) re: Reproduction Costs of
Public Documents. Action should be taken forthwith to remedy this
s~tuation.
d;: 7.~
.James F. Penman
~City Attorney
Attachments: Two (2)
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C I T Y 0 F SAN B ERN A R DIN 0
INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
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TO:
Mayor Tom Minor
FROM:
Dennis A. Barlow, Sr. Asst. City Attorney
November 14, 1994
DATE:
HE:
Reproduction Costs of Public Documents
The California Public Records Act (Government Code 56250 et
seq.) provides that copies of public records shall be made
available to requesting individuals "upon payment of fees covering
direct costs of duplication, or a statutory fee, if applicable."
(Government Code 56257).
In 1988 the Mayor and Council adopted Resolution No. 88-423
(see copy attached) which established the fee for a copy of a
public record in the City as $.35 for the first page and $.15 for
each additional page. In addition to the above cost the resolution
imposed a $15.00 per hour research cost for compiling such
documents charged in 15 minute increments with the first 15 minutes
free.
At the Council meeting held on Monday, November 7, 1994. Jeff
Wright raised a question as to the legality of the City I S fee
mistakenly assuming that it was $.25 per page. Thereafter Larry
Singleton raised the same question to both you and this office
based on the same incorrect assumption.
However they both referred to a recent appellate case, North
County Parents Organization v. Department of Education (1994) 23
Cal.App.4th 144. This case concluded that the per page cost of
copying such records could only include the "direct cost of
duplication" as specified in the statute.
"The direct cost of duplication is the cost of
running the copy .machine, and conceivably also the
expense of the person operating it. 'Direct cost' does
not inClude the ancillary tasks necessarily associated
with the retrieval, inspection and handling of the file
from which the copy is extracted." (at pg. 148)
Under the guidance of this case all of Section 4 of the above
resolution, pertaining to the research cost, is invalid. The per
page cost should be determined based on the cost of running the
copier, and the cost of the person making the copies. Since the
various copiers in the city have a variety of costs and the persons
performing that service have a variety of salaries, a reasonable
DAB/js [PublicDoc.Mem)
..
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'ro:
Re:
Page
Mayor Tom ~nor
Reproduction Costs
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of Public Documents
average could be determined. My recollection is that was how the
original amount was determined, but with changed costs and salaries
and with perhaps more efficient machines, these costs should be
looked at again. Once that is done we will be more than happy to
revise the ordinance for presentation to the Council.
~'n~~~/
_ DENNIS A. ARLOW
DAB/js [Pub11cDoc.M~)
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RESOLUTION NO.
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO ESTABLISHING REVISED
PROCEDURAL RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS
UNDER THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT-; - REQUIRING THE PAYMENT
OF FEES FOR COPIES AND CERTIFICATION OF PUBLIC RECORDS; AND
REPEALING RESOLUTION NO. 88-423.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SAN BERNARDINO AS FOLLOWS:
RECITALS
SECTION 1.
WHEREAS, the California public Records Act requires that
every citizen shall have the right to inspect any public record
during the office hours of the City of San Bernardino; the
following procedures are established for the provision of such
access.
SECTION 2.
(A) Any person desiring to inspect public records shall
first describe to the department/division head or other
authorized personnel (hereinafter "custodian") the public
record or records desired to be inspected. No statement of
reason for the inspection shall be required.
(B) Upon receipt of a request by any person for a copy of
any public record, the custodian shall, as soon as practical,
make available to that person a copy of such record unless the
record is exempt from disclosure under the provisions of the
California Public Records Act.
(C) The custodian shall establish procedures for the
inspection of photographic films and prints, magnetic tapes,
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punched cards, drums, and the like, for the form in which
computer data shall be provided for inspection, and for
furnishing the information contained in a record which is
impractical or infeasible to be copied or reproduced.
(0) Any record which is exempt under the provisions of
Section 6254 of the Government Code may not be open to public
inspection except when expressly authorized by the Mayor or
City Administrator or his or her authorized representative,
after it has been determined that such disclosure is not
otherwise prohibited by law and is not harmful to the public
interest or to individual privacy.
SECTION 3.
Where the fee for providing copies is not otherwise
specified by law, ordinance or resolution, the following fees
shall be charged for copies and certifications:
(A) For preparing a copy of any public writing on file in
a public office, other than maps, graphs, diagrams and similar
records which are of a size larger than the standard sizes on
which the custodian keeps the normal records of the City, the
charge shall be $.35 for the first page, and $.~5 for each
additional page.
(B) For preparing the certificate that the document is a
true and correct copy of the original on file, the City Clerk
shall charge, for his or her certificate, $2.00 for each such
certificate.
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C)
(C) For preparing copies of maps, diagrams, graphs, movie
films, photographs, and other records of special design or of
a size larger than the standard sizes-~n which the custodian
keeps the normal records of the City, the charge shall be the
estimated cost of preparation as established by the custodian.
(D) The above fees are hereby waived for federal, state,
county and municipal public agencies; such waive shall not
apply, however, to any agency which fails to waive fees for
copy charges for copies provided to the City.
(E) The above fees shall be applicable to a request for
copies or reproductions of public records and shall not apply
to the distribution of copies or reproductions in accordance
with any approved policy of the Mayor and Common Council for
the public-dissemination of information to the general public.
These charges shall not apply to news media, or for public
relations, advertising or similar activities, and this
resolution does not apply to records of the Police Department
or any other department for which fees are separately
established.
(F) The custodian may require a deposit sufficient to
cover the estimated cost of providing those copies for which a
fee may be collected before commencing the preparation of such
copies.
SECTION 4.
(A) Any person who is denied access to a public record
may appeal such denial to the City Administrator or his or her
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authorized representative. Notice of all rights of appeal
shall be given to the requester by the custodian at the time of
denial.
(B) If the request is denied by the City Administrator,
the person seeking access to the public record shall have a
right of appeal to the Mayor and Common Council upon filing
written request for hearing before that body, pursuant to San
Bernardino Municipal Code Chapter 2.64.
1. When the matter is scheduled for hearing before the
Mayor and Common Council, the official recommending
against disclosure shall provide to the Mayor and
Common Council facts justifying nondisclosure as
required by Government Code Section 6255.
2. Section 6255 requires that the agency shall justify
withholding any record or demonstrating that the
record in question is exempt under express
provisions of the California Public Records Act or
that on the facts of the particular case, the public
interest served by not making the record public
clearly outweighs the public interest served by
disclosure of the record.
3. The decision of the Mayor and Common Council shall
be final, subject only to court review as provided
by law. No court proceeding shall be instituted
without first exhausting the procedures specified
herein.
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SECTION 6.
Resolution No. 88-423 is hereby repealed.
I HEREBY CERTIFY that the forego~~g resolution was duly
adopted by the Mayor and Common Council of the City of San
Bernardino at a meeting thereof, held on the
day of , 1994, by the following vote, to
wit:
COUNCIL MEMBERS
NEGRETE
CURLIN
HERNANDEZ
OBERHELMAN
DEVLIN
POPE-LUDLAM
MILLER
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NAYS
ABSENT
ABSTAIN
Rachel Clark, City Clerk
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RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO ESTABLISHING
REVISED PROCEDURAL RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR ACCESS TO PUBLIC
RECORDS UNDER THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT; REQUIRING THE
PAYMENT OF FEES FOR COPIES AND CERTIFICATION OF PUBLIC RECORDS;
AND REPEALING RESOLUTION NO. 88-423.
The foregoing resolution is hereby approved this
day of
, 1994.
Tom Minor, Mayor
City of San Bernardino
Approved as to form
and legal content:
JAMES F. PENMAN
City Attorney
By:
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