Anaheim Tightens Electronic Device Policy After Probe Finds Disregard

Anaheim politicians are cracking down on the use of personal cell phones and other electronic devices to conduct business in the city, a practice that independent investigators say has often been used by city officials to circumvent the city's public records law.Following a California Supreme Court decision, lawyers for both the ACLU and the First Amendment Coalition have previously said that emails, text messages and documents, regardless of where they are sent, are subject to legal disclosure when their officials conduct business make.Prosecutor Rob Fabela also pointed this out at the city council meeting on Tuesday.“If you conduct business in the city through personal devices, it is public knowledge,” Fabela said.On Tuesday, city officials directed employees to require the use of government phones and devices for senior city officials and employees, prohibited city business from being conducted through personal accounts and required officials to send city business emails to email accounts forward to the government.The discussion is part of a series of planned reform proposals that Anaheim City Council members are expected to discuss in the fall.These proposals are in response to the conclusions of both FBI

Agents and independent investigators:

 Disneyland lobbyists and resort interests control City Hall and have strong influence over policymaking.City officials are also creating a staffing plan to hire staff to handle public records requests and changing the city's records retention policy to retain emails for two years instead of three months.“Whether intentional or inadvertent, the risk of failing to preserve documents or intentionally circumventing public records truly drives us to do what is safest and best for our city,” said Mayor Ashleigh Aitken. he said on Tuesday.Aitken's father Wylie Aitken is chairman of the board of Voice of OC.officers are also expected to begin posting complete public records responses on the city's website.

City Councilman Jose Diaz said many of the changes won't stop people from circumventing public records laws.“If a criminal wants to intentionally evade the law, he will use your personal accounts, regardless of what we do today, because you are a criminal,” Díaz said. “He did not support the creation of a new unit consisting of up to four people to handle public records requests received by the city, a proposal that could cost salaries as high as $750,000 per year.

Councilor Natalie Rubalcava disagreed, arguing that the price was not that high and could help reduce the workload on staff.“I think it would probably be a good addition to support a very important effort here,” he said.Councilwoman Natalie Meeks agreed with Diaz that the measures won't stop people from circumventing the recording law, but she called the policy changes a good start to keeping people honest.“Criminals will be criminals, and none of this is likely to stop a criminal,” he said.Aitken disagreed, saying policy proposals should include penalties that could deter people from circumventing public records laws.“What kind of teeth can we put on it?Aitken said. “I think harsher penalties deter people.”

Fabela said they could impose sanctions on employees who don't follow the guidelines, but for city council members "it's always a complicated issue... they need to be discussed."

Who uses private telephones?

Aitken asked City Manager James Vanderpool who uses his personal phones, and Vanderpool responded "yes," as did city spokesman Mike Lyster.“Apparently there are a few more, Madam Mayor. “We can get you a complete list,” Vanderpool said.City Councilman Carlos León said if the emails had to do with city business, residents and the city should have access to them, and called for enforceable policies to prevent officials from conducting government business on personal cell phones.

“Part of the problem we are in is that there are people who have chosen to use private phones in the past and then we cannot access that information,” León said. 

“It’s responsibility.”Last year, FBI agents accused disgraced former Mayor Harry Sidhu of destroying documents related to the sale of Angel Stadium to hide from the OC grand jury and of witness tampering.Earlier this month, Sidhu pleaded guilty to public corruption, including lying to federal investigators about passing critical information to an Angels consultant to force the sale of Angel Stadium for $1 million in support. politician for his re-election campaign.In a 353-page corruption report commissioned by the city and released in late July, independent investigators say they did not have access to the phones of former councilman Trevor O'Neil or Sidhu during their corruption investigation.

[Read: Investigators: Anaheim does a terrible job of maintaining public records for public access and accountability]Investigators said Anaheim police also refused to give them access to Sidhu or O'Neil's phone for a forensic examination because the phones were not the subject of a "criminal investigation."[Read: Did Anaheim police do anything for disgraced former mayor?]JL Group investigators also claim they also did not have access to Lyster's phone and discovered he was using his personal devices for business purposes in the city.

“This lack of access to Lyster’s device or records hindered JLG’s investigation,” investigators wrote.

 This is because the personal devices of each City employee must be within the scope of the ESI (electronically stored information) associated with a City employee, as are devices owned by the City.

"In his consent form, Sidhu stated that on September 20, 2020, he received an email from an Angels consultant explaining how he and other city officials should conduct themselves during the city council meeting to approve the sale, and included a plan to rehearse the session. 

According to the agreement, this email went to Lyster's personal account.The Voice of OC requested a public records request for that email, but Fabela said they couldn't find it.

[Read: Anaheim can't find email detailing corruption in stadium sales reported by FBI]

Other reforms?

During Tuesday

’s public City Council meetings, officials did not address text messaging, which independent investigators faulted.

“The practice of sending text messages from the bleachers during City Council meetings has continued and is likely to continue to raise public doubt and suspicion as to whether such actions constitute Brown Act violations,” investigators wrote in their report.

Meanwhile, Anaheim officials on Tuesday directed their staff to make it easier for residents to find out where free tickets are available for events at city-owned buildings such as Angel Stadium, the Honda Center and the convention center.

A Voice of OC investigation in June found that since the new City Council took office last December, most tickets have gone to campaign contributors, city employees and political allies instead of local nonprofits.

[Read: Anaheim’s Ticket to Ride: City Leaders Hand Out Thousands of Free Tickets Each Year]

Tuesday’s meeting marks the first time the city has