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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSOG 703.02 NEW 8-2013_Public Records RequestsSII f4 11 7Mi ` Effective: 8/5/2013 Revised: Replaces: 703.02 — Public Records Requests I. Guiding Philosophy We are committed to communicating openly with the general public, news media, and other agencies. We strive to provide correct and factual information pertaining to the activities of the department to the public and news media in a timely and impartial manner, as long as these activities do not unduly interfere with departmental operations, infringe upon individual rights or violate the law. II. Purpose The purpose of this policy is to set forth uniform guidelines for the processing of public records requests. III. Goals The goals of this policy are to: A. Detail general authorities and responsibilities. B. Discuss receiving, referring and processing public records requests. IV. Definitions A. Public Information — According to the Texas Public Information Act, information that is collected, assembled or maintained under a law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by or for the City, and the City owns the information or has right of access to it. B. Public Records — Every record made or received by the Department is presumed to be a public record that persons may inspect or obtain a copy of upon request, unless expressly exempt from public disclosure under federal, State and/or local law. C. Public Records Officers — Personnel within the Planning Section designated to process public records requests. V. Authority & Responsibilities A. Public records requests will be processed in accordance with Texas Government Code, Chapter 552—Texas Public Information Act (the "Act"). B. The City Clerk's office is custodian of the City's official records, including ordinances, resolutions, deeds, contracts, leases, easements, annexation proceedings, petitions of City Council and other official bodies. C. The Fire Chief is the custodian of records for the Fire Department. The Fire Chief delegates his/her authority under the "Act" as the Public Records Officer for the Department to the Planning Section Chief as defined in this policy. D. The Fire Planning Section Chief may delegate his/her authority to one or more employees in the Planning Section who are familiar with the records created and/or maintained by the Department to serve as designated Public Records Officers. E. Responsibilities of Public Records Officers 1. Ensure that all incoming packages, mail, email and faxes are checked daily to ensure that requests are processed in a timely manner. 2. Promptly review and address all requests for public records. 3. Contact the requestor to seek clarification of unclear requests and/or the narrowing of broad requests. 4. Coordinate the locating and gathering of responses to requests submitted to the Department. 5. Consult with the City Attorney's office to determine whether information should be withheld or disclosed. 6. Provide or make available for public inspection or reproduction information not excepted from disclosure, assess appropriate cost charges, and protect public information from deterioration, alteration, mutilation, loss or unlawful removal. 7. Process all requests promptly, uniformly and without regard to the position of occupation of the requestor, the person on whose behalf the request is made, or the status of the individual as a member of the media. VI. Receivina. Referrina & Processina Public Record Reauests A. Public records requests may be received directly from citizens or from the City Clerk's office, and must be made in writing. (Refer requestors to the City's website at htt ::/la /cit, ofbeaumont.com/cite cede tp htm for additional information on submitting requests.) 1. Requests made directly to the Department will be forwarded to the City Clerk's office. 2. EXCEPTION: Requests for fire incident or inspection reports may be handled internally within the Planning Section -Community Risk Reduction Division. Fire Incident or inspection report requests will be tracked by the Public Records Officer and reported on monthly by the Planning Section Chief. B. Upon receipt of a request for public records, the Public Records Officer will promptly: 1. Record the date and time the request was received. NOTE: A Public Records Officer may not inquire into the purpose for which the requested information will be used or make other SOG 703.02 — Public Records Requests Page 2 of 3 inquiry of the requestor, except as provided in section V.E.3. of this policy. 2. Determine whether responsive information exists. 3. Provide a response or disposition for the request. NOTE: Consult the City Attorney's office if the Public Records Officer has questions on whether certain information should be disclosed or withheld. If information should be withheld, forward the request and responsive information to the City Attorney's office. D. Public Records Officers should avoid an overly technical reading of a request, but instead should make a good faith effort to relate information that is requested to information that the Department holds, keeping in mind the following: 1. The Department is not required to respond to interrogatories. These should be forwarded to the City Attorney's office. 2. The Department is not required to create a new record if none exists. If no records exist, the Public Records Officer should indicate such in the response. 3. In cases where a request asks for documents or information that are not organized or retrievable by the type of information or in the manner that is requested, and the Public Records Officer could provide this information by making a simple computer search or other basic task, the Public Records Officer should make such an effort to produce the information. 4. If providing the information will require extensive research or considerable manipulation of data, the Department is under no obligation to take such action. Instead, the Public Records Officer should notify the requestor of the format in which the information is currently available and include a cost estimate for providing the information in the format that meets the requestor's preference. E. Some records in the possession of the Department are exempt from public disclosure under federal, State and/or local law. Examples of records the Department is prohibited from disclosing or may decline to disclose include: 1. Medical or similar files that the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. 2. Proprietary financial information submitted to the Department in response to a request for proposal prior to the award of any contract. 3. Confidential communications between the Department and lawyers for the City protected by attorney-client privilege. F. At the discretion of the City Attorney's office, if a responsive record contains both exempt and non-exempt information, the exempt material may be redacted and the remainder of the record made available to the requesting party. SOG 703.02 — Public Records Requests Page 3 of 3