City of Sacramento needs a better email policy

We’ve written a lot recently about the city of Sacramento’s email policies. Earlier this year, we explained how the city clerk hopes to delete all email after two years. This would have made it impossible for, say, SN&R freelance investigative reporter Joe Rubin to request older emails pertaining to the city’s water-meter install project. If Rubin doesn’t get those emails, he doesn’t write his story—and Sacramento ratepayers don’t save $65 million.

That’s why SN&R asks that the city store all emails for posterity until an independent “good government” commission can vote on a fair and practical new policy.

In the meantime, as Cosmo Garvin reported last week, there are other email issues at City Hall: Mayor Kevin Johnson and his staff’s use of private email when conducting public business.

This is a problem because, as Garvin noted, the city cannot store emails that do not exist on its file servers.

Unfortunately, the city has no policy regarding the use of private email for government work. That’s bad news, as it allows city business to be conducted without regard for public transparency (e.g., if the mayor’s emails are on a Gmail server, as is the case, he is not bound to hand them over per the Public Records Act).

Government agencies like the city of Sacramento should have control over all of their business files, including email. The city needs to stop this practice of allowing private email for public work, and should implement a policy directing staff as soon as possible.