02/28/2013 Open Government Commission Regular Meeting Adopted 05/30/2013
Open Government Commission Meeting
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GILROY OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION
Minutes
5:30 P.M. SPECIAL MEETING
I. Annual Open Government Ordinance Training Per Gilroy City Code Section
17A.37
The Special Meeting of the Open Government Commission convened at 5:30 p.m. with
the following Commissioners present:
Commissioner Robert Esposito
Commissioner Jack Foley
Commissioner Walter Glines
Commissioner Perry Woodward joined the special meeting at 6:10 p.m.
7:00 P.M. REGULAR MEETING
I. OPENING
A. Call to Order and Roll Call
City Clerk Freels called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Roll Call:
Commissioner Dion Bracco
Commissioner Robert Esposito
Commissioner Jack Foley
Commissioner Walter Glines
Commissioner Perry Woodward
II. Selection of Open Government Commission Chairperson to Serve a (1) One-
year Term Per Gilroy City Code Section 17A.35 (b)
City Clerk Freels presented the staff report.
There were no public comments.
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Motion on Item II.
Motion was made by Commissioner Bracco to appoint Commissioner Woodward
as Chairperson to serve for one year. The motion carried unanimously.
III. PRESENTATIONS TO THE OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION
A. PUBLIC COMMENT BY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ON ITEMS NOT ON THE
AGENDA, BUT WITHIN THE SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION OF THE
There were no public comments on items not on the agenda.
IV. CONSENT CALENDAR
A. Acceptance of the Minutes of October 22, 2012
As the only seated member of the previous Commission , Commissioner Bracco stated
that he had read the minutes and they reflected the actions taken at the October 22,
2012 meeting.
V. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
There were no unfinished business items.
VI. NEW BUSINESS
A. Quarterly Review of Public Records Requests Per Gilroy Code Section 17A.35
(c)
The item was presented by City Administrator Haglund.
Commissioner Esposito asked if denied requests for records were ever challenged ,
asking how the process worked.
Chairperson Woodward explained that prior to the adoption of the open government
ordinance an appeal of a denied request for records required a writ through the formal
legal process. He then explained that the ordinance had an appeal process wherein if
the record was denied by staff and the City Administrator also denied a request then
the appeal of the decision would go before the Open Government Commission and
their recommendation would be brought before the City Council for a final decision. He
explained that the person still had the same legal remedies if they chose to follow the
more formal process.
Commissioner Foley asked if there was a timing requirement for an appeal decision.
Chairperson Woodward explained that there were timing requirements within the city
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appeal process so that legal rights were not impacted.
Commissioner Glines asked if the formal legal process could be used instead of
following the city process of appeal.
Chairperson Woodward explained that it could.
Commissioner Foley asked what the difference was between “final response via email”
and “documents available” on the log listing, asking if it was an acknowledgment that
the request had been filled.
City Clerk Freels explained that the log was describing how the responsive material was
provided, either by email or in hard copy, stating that most often it was p rovided by
electronic means.
Commissioner Glines asked if the Council was interested in reviewing the quarterly
report of fulfilled requests for public records.
City Administrator Haglund stated that the two Cou ncil Members who served on the
Commission had the opportunity to share the activities of the Open Government
Commission at each meeting, and further explained that the report was available on the
city website for public review.
Chairperson Woodward explained that most of what the Commission did was make
recommendation to Council and did present an annual report to the Council each year.
Commissioner Foley asked if there was an increase in the volume of request for
records with the enactment of the Open Government ordinance.
Records Supervisor Boles stated that the number of requests hadn’t necessarily
increased, but the response time had increased greatly.
City Administrator Haglund stated that it became more of a processing burden,
explaining that the ordinance had not contributed to an increase.
City Clerk Freels explained that the response time and follow-up required under the
ordinance that had made an impact.
City Administrator Haglund spoke on extending the time limit parameters.
City Attorney Callon stated that the city was now respon ding to mostly all requests
explaining that prior to the enactment of the ordinance , there were many more denied
requests as the use of the public’s need to know and city’s right to privacy balancing
and the deliberative process exemption s available under the Public Records Act were
not available under the city ordinance.
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Chairperson Woodward explained that the two exemptions under the Act were widely
used, and with the adoption of the Open Government ordinance, the city was no longer
able to use the exemptions to deny requests for public records.
There were no public comments.
Motion on Item VI.A.:
Motion was made by Commissioner Bracco, seconded by Commissioner
Esposito and passed unanimously to accept the report.
VII. CITY ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORTS
City Administrator Haglund spoke on the ongoing training on the open government
ordinance.
Chairperson Woodward asked that changes be made to the training video to
incorporate recent amendments to the ordinance as well as the completion of the index
of public records.
City Administrator Haglund spoke on updating the training.
Commissioner Glines asked for clarification on the use of Braille in providing material to
the sight impaired.
City Administrator Haglund spoke on the city’s responsibility to provide a reasonable
accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Commissioner Glines asked if the 2-year retention of email was sufficient and asked if
the storage of the information was too difficult.
City Administrator Haglund spoke on the data storage capabilities of the city and
requirement to adhere to the city’s records retention policy.
Commissioner Glines spoke on the retention of City Council and Planning Commission
meeting video for 10-20 years per the ordinance.
City Administrator Haglund stated that maintaining the meeting video did take a lot of
storage space and could become a problem in the future.
Chairperson Woodward stated that maintaining the video records was a trade off as city
staff no longer took detailed minutes, and had the video record to refer to if questions
arose.
City Clerk Freels explained that the video was stored with the service provider who
provided the online streaming, and not on city servers.
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VIII. CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORTS
City Attorney Callon stated that it was good to be back.
IX. CITY CLERK’S REPORTS
City Clerk Freels spoke on the city's records retention schedule stating that it was under
full review by departments as it was fairly outdated from the original 2004 version,
explaining that her office had reformatted the policy to be more usable by all city staff
and the public, and that it would include the most current statutes. She then explained
that the retention schedule would likely be presented to the Commission and would
ultimately be presented to the City Council for adoption in the fall, once it was
completed.
X. REPORTS OF COMMISSION MEMBERS
Commissioner Bracco welcomed the new members.
Commissioner Glines thanked the City Clerk for being so helpful in answering questions
stating that he was impressed with the amount of information available on the city
website.
City Administrator Haglund spoke on a pending updates to the city website.
Commissioner Woodward welcomed the new members explaining that he had
envisioned a full citizen commission when he had first proposed the open government
ordinance, and was happy to see it coming to fruition.
Commissioner Esposito asked if he could call in to Commission meetings if he was out
of town.
City Administrator Haglund stated that the Commissioners would need to make contact
with City Clerk Freels to provide her with information to include on the agenda, and then
spoke on the need to be in a public location when participating.
City Clerk Freels explained that agenda was typically published no less than 72 hours
before a meeting, explaining that she would need to know in advance to include the
address and location of any commissioner participating from a remote location.
Chairperson Woodward spoke on the work plan for the year, stating that ther e were
several items from his first draft of the ordinance that were omitted when it was finally
adopted, and he believed they still belonged in the ordinance so he planned to bring the
Commission the particular sections for possible reinsertion to be formally recommended
to the City Council.
Commissioner Glines asked if the Commission should ask the other members of the
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Council to provide their recommended changes.
Chairperson Woodward spoke on being careful because of the Open Government
Ordinance and the Brown Act explaining that any recommendations from the
Commission would go to the Council and at that time, the rest of the Council could
provide any suggestions of their own.
Commissioner Esposito spoke on the use of personal email accounts as Commis sion
members.
Chairperson Woodward explained that all Commissions except for the Planning
Commission used their personal email.
XI. FUTURE COMMISSION INITIATED AGENDA ITEMS – SCHEDULE NEXT
QUARTERLY MEETING
The Commission agreed to set the next meeting date and time of May 30, 2013 at 6:00
p.m.
There was a discussion about submitting items for the agenda and Commissioner Foley
asked how suggestions for the agenda could be made .
Chairperson Woodward stated that if there was an item that didn’t take much staff time,
and if the Commission was in consensus then the item could be placed on the agenda.
XII. ADJOURNMENT
The Commission adjourned at 7:29 p.m.
/s/ SHAWNA FREELS, MMC
City Clerk