Mayor Feels 'Harassed' by Public Records Requests

It was a tense meeting of the Milpitas City Council Tuesday night, as several issues on the agenda sparked debate.

Public Records Requests

Mayor Jose Esteves said he "felt harassed" by the number of Public Records Act requests the City has received recently by both members of the public and fellow city councilmembers alike, for everything from phone records, to e-mails between him and others, to video surveillance of him in City buildings.

Councilmember Althea Polanski requested a report detailing three months' worth of requests. In three months, 66 requests had been made - 27 of which were made by Councilmember Debbie Giordano.

A significant portion of Giordano's requests involved activities of the mayor.

Polanski expressed concern over how much staff time it takes to process so many requests.

“I'm concerned about staff time spent on these requests, making it difficult for them to do their jobs,” she said.

Giordano asked City Manager Tom Williams if there are limitations on the amount of time City staff can spend on Public Records Act requests. Williams said there are not.

Mayor Esteves called the process a "waste of resources."

The report of three months of requests was officially received by the Council with a 4-1 vote, with Giordano dissenting.

Outsourcing of Emergency Fire and Police Services

During Tuesday night's City Council meeting, Milpitas Fire Chief Brian Sturdevant and Milpitas Police Chief Dennis Graham delivered reports on the City's long-discussed consideration of potentially outsourcing fire and police services in Milpitas, in an effort to reduce costs.

The Milpitas Fire Department had been consulting with Cal-Fire and the Santa Clara County Fire Department on potential costs and response times.

Chief Sturdevant said Cal-Fire "showed little interest in taking over Milpitas' operations," and that they would require a 30-year contract. He also said County Fire "couldn't do it cheaper.”

Sturdevant reported that response times with both services would also be longer.

For outsourced police services, Chief Graham said the Santa Clara County Sheriff provided only a generic reply to Milpitas' request for proposal (RFP), stating that response times would be two to three times longer than the Milpitas Police Department's.

Polanski said, “Request for Proposal outsourcing doesn't make sense now.”

“I strongly support keeping the Milpitas Police Department intact,” added Councilmember Armando Gomez.

The council accepted the reports and directed City staff not to pursue outsourcing any further at this time.