1. The California Public Records Act (Government Code Section 6250 et seq.) provides California citizens with important rights to obtain access to records held by public agencies in the State. The purpose of this policy is to clarify for the public, attorneys, insurance adjusters, and private investigators, the process by which the District will respond to requests for records under the Public Records Act. In addition, the District seeks to establish a clear procedure for
responding to Public Records Act requests to ensure that the District processes all requests fairly, consistently and in a time sensitive manner
a. The District prefers that all requests for public records be in writing on a form prescribed by the District Manager, unless the request is to review an agenda or agenda reports of the Board of Directors or a District committee.Oral requests may require further clarification or a response to questions from the District to clarify the request.
2. The General Manager will provide its initial response to all requests as soon as possible, but not later than the ten-day period, or extensions thereof, as provided by Government Code sections 6256 and 6256.1. In accordance with the Public Records Act, this initial response will indicate whether the District has any disclosable records in response to the request. The following steps will be taken to make this determination.
a. The General Manager shall review the request and determine whether the request seeks identifiable records and, if not, the General Manager shall so advise the person making the request.
b. The General Manager shall request all District Departments which may have the records being
requested to search their files and report back to the General Manager on whether the Department has
the records and, if so, when the records can be made available to the person seeking them.
c. The General Manager shall respond to the person requesting records by advising him or her in writing of the availability of the documents and whether disclosure of any of the documents is exempt under the provisions of the Public Records Act
3. After the initial response from the District and if disclosable documents are identified, the person requesting such documents may either inspect the documents at the District office or request a copy of such documents. If a request is made for copies of the documents, the General Manager shall also advise the person requesting copies of the estimated time to compile the documents and the costs of copying the documents requested.
a. The person requesting the copies shall pay the per page charge for copying as set forth by resolution of the District Board for all copies requested. The General Manager shall not make the requested copies until a deposit in the amount of the estimated costs of copying is received and shall not release the copies until the full cost of copying is paid to the District in the form of a check or money order. Cash is not accepted by the District.
b. In accordance with the Public Records Act, the District will provide only specific identifiable records but will not research District records for particular information or analyze information which may be contained within any public records. The District is not required to create a document or record that does not exist. The District will exercise reasonable efforts to locate requested documents normally kept by the District.
The District will respond to requests for public records in accordance with the terms of the California Public Records Act as the Act now exists or may hereafter be amended, and nothing in this Policy is intended nor shall it be construed to conflict with the terms of the Public Records Act.
