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Moreover — and this is of critical importance — if someone were to try to edit the digital recording, a <br />new file would have to be created. The machine by default would create a new file and ask you to <br />give it a different name. Staff has investigated and found no evidence of such a "digital footprint" <br />being made. This further evidences the fact that nobody edited the video, rather it was almost a <br />computer or electrical interruption in the DVD download process that went unnoticed when it <br />occurred. <br />INVITATIONS TO MR. GROSSICH AND THE PRESS <br />On Wednesday, February 11th during the Utility Commission meeting and again on the afternoon <br />of Thursday, February 12th at City Hall, the Finance Director spoke with Mr. Grossich in person <br />and extended an invitation to him to meet with the staff, view the recordings and analyze the <br />reason staff believes the impact to his comments occurred. He also invited Mr. Grossich to bring <br />with him any individual with technical knowledge relative to video production. The Finance <br />Director has also extended email invitations to the following persons on the noted dates, in order <br />to allow them to meet with staff and view the recording procedures: Mr. Grossich (2-12-09), Ms. <br />Cindy Rhodes (Press Enterprise Reporter) (2-12-09), Ms. Cassie MacDuff (Press Enterprise <br />Columnist) (2-14-09) and Mr. Michael Sorba (San Bernardino Sun Reporter) (2-14-09). As of the <br />writing of this report, staff has not been contacted by anyone, but there is still time and the <br />invitation still stands for anyone to meet with staff to review this process. <br />IMPLEMENTATION OF PROCEDURES TO PREVENT FUTURE TECHNICAL ISSUES <br />As mentioned above, the City's DVD and digital hard drive recording process began in 2006, <br />when the new system was purchased and implemented. There has been no formal process or <br />policy in place to monitor the hard drive capacity (which is very large at 700GB). Staff will now <br />implement a policy to check the hard drive capacity and archive files every six (6) months, at the <br />end of June and the end of December. <br />FURTHER OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION <br />With respect to an outside investigation, Mr. Grossich has asked both the City Clerk and City <br />Attorney to launch such an investigation with an independent agency. It is not clear, however, <br />what agency that might be, since there is no evidence of any criminal activity that would <br />necessitate the involvement of the District Attorney or County Sherriffs Department, for instance. <br />The Attorney General, of course, can elect to assume jurisdiction over meeting or public <br />document issues, but it not clear if they have investigatory personnel designed for this sort of <br />inquiry. Staff can contact them, if the Council so desires. The City Council can also choose, of <br />course, to hire an outside law firm or other entity to investigate, but neither the City Clerk nor the <br />City Attorney have independent contracting authority to acquire such services. <br />In conclusion, however, the City Attorney would like to make it clear that he is responsible to the <br />City Council and does not believe he or his firm have any conflict in investigating alleged staff <br />actions. When asked to perform services for the City, they perform them in an unbiased and <br />professional manner. <br />5 <br />ORANGE\DDERLETH\54438.6 <br />