Dear Mayor Faulconer and members of the City Council, I'm writing in my capacity as advocacy chair for the San Diego Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists to ask that city staff and council members prioritize access to public records and information when allocating resources for the city’s upcoming fiscal year. San Diego SPJ President Lisa Halverstadt and I recently had a productive ​meeting​ with the city’s public records staff, as well as communication chiefs for the city and Mayor Kevin Faulconer, regarding the city’s NextRequest system. Earlier this year, San Diego SPJ designed a ​survey​ of NextRequest users to get feedback on how the system is working. More than 175 people took the survey, and many mentioned a need for additional city staff to process public-records requests and answer questions about them. Of those surveyed, 46 percent said records were not released within the timelines initially offered by city staff. At our meeting, we also learned the city has seen a 45 percent increase in the number of requests being filed since the system’s launch in 2016. San Diego SPJ recognizes that the city is not required to have a system like NextRequest, and our board appreciates the city’s efforts to make the request process more efficient and increase government transparency. But we ask that, as the budget plans for next year are finalized, the city ensures it has adequate resources, both within the department managing the NextRequest system and within other individual departments, to respond to public-records requests. San Diego SPJ also stands ready to offer assistance with educating city staff and department liasons on the state’s public records laws. Thank you for your efforts and support of public access to information, which we feel will result in a more informed San Diego community. Respectfully, Tom Jones San Diego SPJ Advocacy Chair / Board Member 619-618-9243 Cell Phone TomJ@NBC.com