Board of Aldermen 09-22-2020 Page 6
there was a Right to Know Request made to the Police Department for the “investigatory file”. Nowthe
Police Department, that’s a common term at the PD, investigatory file. They do a lot of investigations.
They have a meaning for investigatory files. And what that includes is all the documents that they have
accumulated as well as reports, written reports regarding all of the interview that they have conducted.
When the Right to Know is requested for all those documents related to this criminal complaint which was
found to be groundless, the Right to Know Request was made. The PD ok they want the investigatory file,
they assemble the investigatory file and they produce it. What's the problem? Well the plaintiff says when
| said “investigatory file” | meant the tapes of the interview. Well the Police Department says we don’t
include, you knowwe don’t— when we use that term and we produce these investigatory files we don’t
include the tapes because we don’t transcribe them, that takes too much time., too much money and time.
So we don’t normally transcribe them. “Well | meant that the tapes should be included” — OK.
Well in order to produce the tapes because there could be personal information because this was against a
City Employee this criminal complaint and it had to do with workplace conduct, at least alleged workplace
conduct. So they needed to transcribe the tape in order to produce them and make sure that they could
redact what needed to be redacted. So the PD and the Legal Department say, OK we will transcribe the
tapes at the City’s expense of course and produce them and we will give you a transcript and the tape. So
they agreed to produce them, but wasn’t done soon enough, wasn’t done immediately so there’s a lawsuit,
thatis a lawsuit. That’s one of many claims in the lawsuit against the City, many similar claims.
So the point being here, it’s not so simple that, oh well why doesn’t the Department just produce the
document because if anyone, it might be 1,000 documents it might be 100 different requests and if anyone
makes a mistake there’s a lawsuit, or arguably a mistake like this thing with the PD. That's why we need
the Right to Know Coordinator and that’s why the Legal Department needs to be involved. Now! spent a
little time on this because | know you've had some questions but we have had multiple, as | say, four
people working half time on these request for two years, a couple hundred thousanda year. This has
probably cost the City $400,000.00 so far, noteven counting the cost of all the litigation and all that, not
counting what the PD is doing with the investigations and with the transcribed, it doesn’t even count all of
that. So! think we need this Right to Know Coordinator to help us relieve these people from the duties to
track all of this to help with all the redacting, because given that we’ve been in this for two years, we can
expect that we will continue to get Right to Know Requests on nearly a daily basis.
Finally, Madam President, | would like next meeting and we’ve discussed this, you and I, to recognize the
wonderful people who put together the lighted kayak events this past Saturday and a few weeks before
that, a very beautiful event which is highlighting the beauty of our river. This is exactly wnat we were
looking for when we initiated the Riverfront Master Plan which we are just about ready to begin
implementation on. We think that this can be a great asset for the community, for the downtown, for the
City as awhole and this is the kind of spontaneous activity that! think should make us all feel good and
proud of the City and its citizens. So | am going to have a Resolution prepared for the next meeting and
we will name the individuals who were involved and ask them to come to the meeting. And | think the
President has said that’s a good idea. In any event, Madam President, that concludes my remarks, but |
will be available for questions and if you wish | could introduce, when the times comes, Corina and
Manuela.
RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR
President Wilshire
Thank you, Mayor, appreciate that. Response to remarks of the Mayor - anyone have any response?
Sorry | have alot of people on here so I’ve got to do a thorough job of looking. Ok seeing none.
Alderwoman Lu
rm sorry, Madam President! was slow to react. Thank you. Mayor Donchess mentioned the escrows and
| just, | am wondering if | should respond to that nowor wait until we are dealing with it.
