CITY OF SANTA ROSA
2023 Public Records Report
Under Chapter 1-10 Open Government, Article 3 of the Santa Rosa City Code, “the Public Records Coordinator shall prepare a tally and report of all record requests brought before it.
The report shall, at a minimum, identify the total number of requests, nature of the requests, number of requests fulfilled, number of requests unfilled, and the reason they were not filled.”
In addition to the minimum requirements identified in City Code, the City Clerk, as the Public Record Coordinator, has provided additional information related to a year over year look back at the volume of Public Records request received over the last 4 years.
Types of Requests
o City Clerk – Legislation, eDiscovery, Form 700, historical records o CAO – Generally assigned for exemption review
o CMO – Contracts managed by CMO
o CIRO – Requests from News sources, assigned as an FYI o Finance – Unclaimed monies, new business list, business license, some contracts unless specifically managed by other departments
o Fire – Fire incident reports, CUPA & Hazmat related records, fire inspection reports, fire code violations, fire permits
o Housing & Community Services – Rental assistance reports, Mobile home records, Housing allocation plans
o HR – Employment contracts, salary list
o IT – Network back ups, city held camera footage
o PED – Building plans, building permits, site plans, conditional use permits, code enforcement records, soil reports, encroachment permits, parcel maps, certificate of occupancy, grading permits, easement plans, short-term rental documentation o Police – Police reports, CAD logs, Officer involved incidents reports, transparency records
o Rec & Parks – park maintenance records, park plans, swimming pool chemical logs o TPW – CIP project documents, traffic engineering studies, bus footage, road maintenance records, traffic signal timing reports
o Water – Utility permit, water usage
Non-releasable records
Draft documents, Certified payroll records, bank plans, deliberative process, attorney client privilege or attorney work product, Open law enforcement investigations, law enforcement officer personal contact info, records retentions schedule, personal contact/complainant info, appraisals are exempt from disclosure per specific Government Codes
Ex: The requested records have been withheld or redacted pursuant to California Government Code § 7927.700 [medical, personnel, etc. which would cause an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy], § 7927.705 [other records that may be exempt pursuant to federal or state law], and § 7923.600 [records of complaints to, or investigations conducted by...any state or local police agency], Haynie v. Superior Court (2001) 26 Cal.4th 1061, 1071.
Request Withdrawn
Generally, requests are withdrawn because a requester found the records on their own or decided they did not need them anymore.
Affidavits Not Received,
29, 7%
Denied, 45, 11%
No Records - County
Assessor, 49, 12%
No records: Does Not
Exist, 149, 37%
No Records: Other
Agency, 21, 5%
No Response from
Requester, 96, 24%
Records Withheld , 2,
0%
Request Withdrawn,
17, 4%
Unfilled Closure Reasons
Affidavits Not Received Denied No Records - County Assessor No records: Does Not Exist No Records: Other Agency No Response from Requester Records Withheld Request Withdrawn
5 Year Snapshot
970 959
1514
1321 1316
0 200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Total Requests Per Year
632
275
63 600
326
33 956
509
49 957
328
36 827
408
52 29
0 200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Requests Per Year