A new report has found that San Diego County suffers from major shortcomings in how it releases records and other internal documents to the public.
Read more Top Democrat places hold on Trump administration’s plan to sell heavy bombs to Israel
Despite the findings, county officials are resisting any serious reforms for now.
The county public records process is plagued by delays, staff shortages and inconsistent rules for how to release records across the county’s dozens of departments and agencies, according to the report given to county supervisors last month by Chief Administrative Officer Ebony Shelton.
“Many departments rely on PRA (Public Records Act) coordinators who juggle these duties alongside other full-time responsibilities, leading to insufficient staffing and operational strain,” Shelton said.
“Internal review delays remain the most common bottleneck, often exacerbated by complex exemption reviews, which can extend turnaround times,” she added.
But Shelton ultimately stopped short of making high-level recommendations for how to fix the situation.
The report, which was made public on Tuesday’s supervisors’ agenda, is a far cry from what Supervisor Joel Anderson envisioned when he first authored an overhaul of the county’s records request process in April.
Then, Anderson wanted to consolidate with the county’s technology office the power to identify and compile whatever records members of the public were requesting.
Notably, such a change would have stripped that authority from individual county officials and departments who are the subject of records requests.
But during a Board of Supervisors meeting in April, Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe amended Anderson’s plan in a way that prevented any immediate reforms.
Instead of ordering an overhaul of the records request process, Montgomery Steppe’s amendment directed staff to review how the county releases records and see what it would take to make changes.
Supervisors unanimously backed the item.
For now, Anderson said he’s leaving the issue alone and looking to introduce new reforms to the public records process in the weeks ahead, which would extend how long the county retains certain documents.
Currently, the county automatically deletes most staff emails after two years. In 2022, Anderson first authored that policy, extending how long the county preserves emails from the prior 60 days to the current standard of two years.
Read more Families of Jimmy Lai, Min Zin plead in Washington for their release ahead of Xi’s visit
But the retention policy has become an issue in the court case against a former county contractor facing criminal charges for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in county money destined for opioid treatment.
Because of the policy, the county deleted key emails concerning a whistleblower complaint about the contractor, former Harm Reduction Coalition executive Amy Knox, according to Voice of San Diego.
“We have a responsibility to preserve the records needed to protect our constituents and fully prosecute anyone who steals from them, especially those who prey on the most vulnerable,” Anderson said in a statement.
‘Increasingly strained’
According to the recent review, the county received about 15,000 records requests between mid-2024 and mid-2026.
In nearly 80% of those requests, documents were handed over within 10 days.
Still, the county faces myriad challenges in turning over documents.
Staff with other jobs are often deputized to respond to records requests. Legal review by county attorneys adds another time-consuming layer to the process, which can delay requests, according to the review.
On average, the amount of time it takes for staff to compile and turn over records is equivalent to about a dozen full-time employees, the review said.
Complex requests, which involve emails, text messages, and other communication over a multi-year period, create additional problems.
Even though such requests only account for about 3% of the requests the county receives in a year, they involve thousands of records, and it can take months to turn documents over to the public.
The report said county IT staff drafted several solutions to make responding to such requests more efficient. But the annual cost of making those reforms could be $600,000 to $1.7 million, the review said.
In response to an internal county survey, officials want more staff, clearer rules and better technology.
“These themes point to a PRA process that is functional but increasingly strained, with opportunities for system-wide improvements in staffing, standardization, legal support and technology,” Shelton wrote in the review.
But Shelton stressed that – whether it be more staff or new technology – supervisors have to decide whether to spend more money on improving how the county turns over records.
Read more US troops must prepare to fight around the moon, Trump’s top military adviser says
