REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: ANDREW JANZ, City Attorney City Attorney's Office BY: TINA R. GRIFFIN, Chief Assistant City Attorney Litigation Unit, City Attorney's Office SUBJECT ..Title Actions pertaining to the Litigation Unit in the City Attorney's Office: 1. ***RESOLUTION - Adopt the 7th Amendment to the Position Authorization Resolution ("PAR") No. 2023-184, adding one full-time Paralegal position in the City Attorney's Office (Subject to Mayor's Veto). ..Body RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that Council authorize the adoption of the 7th Amendment to the Position Authorization Resolution (PAR) No. 2023-184, adding one full-time Paralegal position in the City Attorney's Office (CAO). EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Staff recommends Council approve the 7th Amendment to the PAR to add one full-time Paralegal position as Public Records Act requests have greatly increased (i.e., CAO processed nearly 5,000 Public Records Act requests in 2023, an increase of nearly 3,000 annually from 2018) and to meet legally required timelines, avoid unnecessary litigation, and reduce backlog and workloads, an additional full-time Paralegal position is necessary. In addition, full compliance with City civil service rules requires the addition of a Paralegal position at this time, resulting from compulsory personnel processes. BACKGROUND As a result of Senate Bill 16 (e.g., the 45-day response timeframe and expanded categories of records required to be produce through the Public Records Act), the number of requests the City normally receives and process within a year has greatly increased. The CAO has processed nearly 5,000 Public Records Act requests in 2023, which was an increase of nearly 3,000 requests annually from 2018. In addition, the City also has a current backlog and workloads that all paralegal staff have been working hard to help reduce. Even with the current number of staff working on these increased Public Records Act requests, the CAO is having difficulty processing all Public Records Act requests effectively and efficiently within the statutorily required timeframe and an additional Paralegal position is necessary. Failure to comply with statutory timeline and effectively and efficiently process these Public Records Act requests pose a great risk of unnecessary litigation against the City of Fresno. One additional full-time Paralegal position is required to address the greatly increased Public Records Act requests, help meet the legally required timelines, avoid unnecessary litigation, and backlog and workloads issues. Furthermore, the Fresno Municipal Code, Chapter 3, Articles 1 through 6 which governs how all personnel-related matters are addressed in the City of Fresno, specifically Article 2, sets forth the Civil Service rules and regulations establishing detailed processes that the City of Fresno is legally required to follow and comply with. This current request for one additional full-time Paralegal position is also legally required to maintain compliance with the Civil Service rules and regulations. There is no requirement to meet and confer with bargaining unit over this PAR amendment as this is only increasing the number of employees in existing classifications. ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS This is not a "project" for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") Guidelines Section 15378 and is therefore exempt from the CEQA requirements. LOCAL PREFERENCE Local preference is not implicated because this item does not involve public contracting or bidding with the City of Fresno. FISCAL IMPACT The addition of one Paralegal position will not result in increased salary and benefit expenses in Fiscal Year 2024, as there is sufficient funding within the City Attorney's Office's budget as appropriated in the Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Appropriation Resolution. Attachment: 7th Amendment to the Position Authorization Resolution No. 2023-184