September
3, 2014
San
Jose Mercury News
By Jason
Green. Daily News Staff Writer
The city of Palo Alto says it is taking steps
to be more responsive to requests for public records in the wake of a Santa
Clara County Civil Grand Jury investigation.
A report released by the civil grand jury in
June found that the city kept the public in the dark while secretly dealing
with developer John Arrillaga over two important land use issues -- a proposal
to build a mixed-use project at 27 University Ave. and an offer to purchase 7.7
acres adjacent to Foothills Park -- and then stonewalled residents' requests
for records.
The city is required under state law to
formally respond to findings and recommendations in the report.
One of those findings was that the city does
not consistently respond to public records requests in a timely manner.
"If the finding intends to state that
the city's public records practices are not perfect in every case and could be
improve, the city agrees," the city said in a response the council is
slated to review Monday.
"If the finding intends to state that
the city's practices fall outside reasonable, customary and even best practices
in this arena, the city disagrees," it continued. "The city receives
many requests for routine information every single day and does a good job of
responding promptly to the public."
The city strives to provide an initial
response to a public records request within 10 days and "generally meets
this standard," the city said.
To improve things, the city said it recently
added a form to better track public records requests as well as a
"frequently asked questions," or FAQ, section to its public records
requests Web page.
In response to a recommendation that it
should consistently respond to public records requests in a timely manner, the
city said it is exploring additional ways to automate tracking and responses
but pointed to the form and FAQ as a start. Additional training for city staff
is also in the works.
The city agreed with another civil grand jury
finding that it needs to do a better job of handling non-routine public records
requests.
"While the city does a reasonably good
job of capturing most requests and responses, the city agrees that its current
system does not capture all the requests and responses and could be
improved," the response said. "The city is evaluating additional
software solutions in this area."
Email Jason Green at jgreen@dailynewsgroup.com;
follow him at twitter.com/
jgreendailynews.
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