The 311 Intake Outside the First Export Filter

Case 23-009185 | Card 41 | 4880 T Street, Sacramento CA 95819

The City's first 311 export for CPRA Request 25-3549 carried a date filter that placed the originating March 17, 2023 ticket outside the search window. The ticket surfaced only after the requester identified the cutoff in writing and named the ticket number. The case file supplies the surrounding dates: the File Detail Report carries an "Open Date" of 03/18/2023, its earliest Activity Log entries — INITIAL COMPLAINT and INITIAL INSPECTION — are dated 03/20/2023, and no Activity Log entry bearing the 03/17/2023 complaint date appears anywhere in the produced case file M001. The request asked for the originating complaint R.25-3549; the export's "Date/Time Opened" filter began on March 20, 2023 R.25-3549.2.

In the portal thread, the requester identified the cutoff, named the originating ticket number (#230317-1609966) and the November 2023 follow-up ticket number (#231107-2094683), and asked the City to identify "which systems and custodians are being searched" R.25-3549.1. The City then released a further 311 export containing ticket #230317-1609966 and closed the request R.25-3549.3 R.25-3549.1. Later complaint content appears in the May 2026 produced extracts, including 2026 neighbor-characterization entries M011 M012 M039; the originating 311 intake surfaced only after the filter was challenged.

IN PLAIN TERMS

This card is about a search window. The requester asked for the complaint that started the case. The City's first 311 spreadsheet was set to begin three days after that complaint, so the March 17 ticket was not in it. The requester caught the cutoff, supplied the ticket number, and asked for the search to be rerun. The City's next spreadsheet contained the ticket.

RECORD CHAIN

  1. File Detail Report open date. The City's File Detail Report records "Open Date: 03/18/2023"; its earliest Activity Log entries — INITIAL COMPLAINT and INITIAL INSPECTION — are dated 03/20/2023; no log entry on 03/17/2023 appears anywhere in the produced case file M001.
  2. 311 export filter cutoff. The 311 export the City produced in response to Request 25-3549 was filtered to begin on March 20, 2023 — placing the originating March 17 complaint outside the search window R.25-3549.2.
  3. Requester's written challenge. The requester identified the cutoff in writing on the dated portal thread, named the originating ticket (#230317-1609966) and follow-up ticket (#231107-2094683), sought an unfiltered rerun, and asked the City to identify "which systems and custodians are being searched" R.25-3549.1.
  4. City's further production and closure. The City released a further 311 export that contains originating ticket #230317-1609966, opened 03/17/2023 at 11:41 a.m., and closed the request on November 7, 2025 — the portal recording "All responsive records have been provided" and Anna Sorensen's same-day message stating "The City has collected all documents that appear to be responsive to your request." R.25-3549.3 R.25-3549.1.
  5. Later complaint content in the May 2026 extracts. The May 2026 produced file carried later neighbor-characterization complaint entries at M011, M012, and M039; the originating 311 intake, by contrast, surfaced only through the corrected export.

FULL CIRCLE

The strongest City answer is that 311 intake and Code Enforcement case opening are separate administrative steps: the complaint arrived on March 17, the case file opened on March 18, and the Activity Log began on March 20 M001. That may explain why the case-management file starts later than the 311 ticket. It does not explain why a CPRA export for the originating complaint was filtered to begin on March 20 without disclosing the complaint-date/case-open-date distinction or identifying the systems and custodians searched R.25-3549.1 R.25-3549.2.

Government Code section 7922.600 directs an agency, to the extent reasonable, to help identify responsive records, describe the information technology or physical location where they exist, and suggest ways to overcome any practical basis for denial GC.7922.600. On this request, the record shows the requester identifying the cutoff, naming ticket #230317-1609966, and asking which systems and custodians were being searched before the broader export produced the March 17 ticket R.25-3549.1 R.25-3549.3. The responsive-records-complete language of the closure belongs to the completeness baseline addressed at Card 4; this card is limited to the filter that kept the originating intake out of the first export.

On this record, ticket #230317-1609966 entered the production only after the requester located the cutoff and supplied the ticket number.

APPLICABLE LAW

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