District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey on Tuesday called for a consensus from her colleagues to establish a “consistent county-wide policy” for responding to California Public Records Act requests.
This request comes amid ongoing discussions between Sutter Coast Hospital, the North Coast Rape Crisis Team, the Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office, the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office and other members of the Sexual Assault Response Team. On Tuesday, Starkey said that after a meeting on Monday, the parties have a completed memorandum of understanding ready for signatures.
However, Starkey, who has been helping facilitate the meetings, took issue with how Redwood Voice Community News obtained its information in a Nov. 5 article on the ongoing discussions, stating emails the article cited were not released through the “standard PRA.” Starkey did not question the article’s accuracy.
Del Norte County processes California Public Records Act requests through an online portal. The portal also allows members of the public to go view previous requests that have been made as well as the responsive documents. According to its introduction, the portal is the “only way to request documents from this county.”
Starkey’s colleague, District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard said it was good that a new MOU was being drafted, praising Sutter’s “incredible steps” over the last two years to provide healthcare to the community.
“But communication should have been a lot better between the sheriff’s office, Sutter Coast Hospital and the Healthcare District to understand each other’s limitations,” Howard said.
A Del Norte County Sexual Assault Response Team Protocol has existed since 2017. The protocol established a SART advisory committee that includes Sutter Coast Hospital, the North Coast Rape Crisis Team, along with law enforcement, county officials and tribal representatives.
Under that 2017 agreement, the DA’s office is the lead agency and Sutter Coast Hospital agreed to provide a room in its emergency department for SART examinations. The hospital’s Emergency Department Medical Director was tasked with establishing medical protocols and standardized procedures when it comes to treating and examining survivors.
Del Norte County Sheriff’s Det. Maia Mello, a SART team member, told Redwood Voice that efforts to update the MOU have been ongoing for about two years. Updating the 2017 agreement is necessary due to changes in state law as well as changes within the SART team’s member agencies, she said.
The challenges when it comes to ensuring the hospital was following SART policy date back to at least 2023, according to the email communications Redwood Voice obtained.
