ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Secret Government in Seal Beach

Seal Beach officials have an odd view of which city records must be made available and how convenient access should be for the public.

Apparently, they need to be reminded that state law, as well as legal case law, stacks up behind the citizenry and the press.

Time and again, both the Legislature and the courts have held that the fullest possible public access to all government materials must be given, with very few exceptions.

That’s so the actions of elected officials and city employees can be open to the “sunshine” of public scrutiny.

As examples of the city’s uncooperativeness, Seal Beach officials once dragged their feet in providing financial information to two residents about the cost of a new pier and, when another resident requested a list of checks issued by the city to pay its bills, they put up numerous obstacles.

They have also made it difficult for a Times reporter to obtain copies of damage claims made against the city--items that are routinely provided by other cities, such as Tustin.

The city’s explanation for such actions is absurd. When pressed several months ago for reasons that claims would not be made available, the city’s liability attorney, Ivan Stevenson, asserted that the claims are exempt from disclosure under one of the sections of the California Public Records Act. But a 1988 state attorney general’s opinion concluded in a similar instance that a claim document filed with a public agency must be disclosed.

In recent weeks, under pressure to ease city policy, Seal Beach officials finally made available copies of some of the claims against the city that had been requested by a reporter. But all of the names had been blacked out, without explanation or justification, making it impossible to sort out the details.

This suggests that the city does not fully comprehend its responsibility to the public. It is merely the custodian of the public’s business--not its owner.