Asked & Answered

Q: A California City Council originally released an agenda for its regular meeting without a closed session. Each agenda usually has a closed session heading listed at the end of the meeting — but the council doesn’t meet in closed session; it’s like a placeholder. On its action calendar, the council was scheduled to discuss and appoint a new interim city attorney. Three hours before the 7 p.m. meeting, the city clerk sent out an

Q: I submitted a CPRA for completed/submitted applications of Citizen Bond Oversight Committee members, however, the school district denied “the request stating my request for the completed applications are protected from disclosure pursuant to Government Code section 6254(c), disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” I reviewed the government code and think it does not apply to the CBOC members since they are volunteers and not personnel. Would you be able

Q: Under CPRA, is it possible to request a list of addresses for residences from the city that have had their water shut off in the past 30 days if I ask for them to redact all other information including name and phone number? A: The California Public Records Act (CPRA) requires public agencies to disclose public records unless some exemption applies.  Public records include “any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the

Q: I was charged $30 to obtain a copy of a traffic collision report for an accident that I was not involved in, but which destroyed my parked car. I looked up the California Vehicle Code that applies to traffic collisions, and it says the police department may not charge anything other than the “actual cost” of producing the record. My understanding of “actual” cost means that they may charge for what it costs to

Q: On May 2 I submitted a request to the County Fire Department (Risk Management Division) for 90 individual 911 calls during a major wildfire. I selected the calls from a 200+ page document that the Risk Management people provided to me, in the format that was requested by them. I have followed up a couple of times and the last I heard on May 10 was “I forwarded your request to the bureau that