City of Riverside’s City Clerk Online Public Records
August 25, 2011 Leave a comment
By Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law.
Finding a municipal record can be difficult even for in-house municipal lawyers. When I was Assistant City Attorney for the City of Redlands and a Deputy City Attorney for the City of San Bernardino, I would have to go to, email or call the City Clerk’s Office for someone to manually pull the needed document.
Luckily, progressive cities are putting more and more documents online. This is a good practice because it allows both staff and the public to pull up public records without having to waste staff time retrieving the record.
The City of Riverside has such a system, which I stumbled upon looking for a Government Claim form from the City. As an aside, I called the City’s 311 call center and they said the Government Claim Form is not available online. They agreed to email me one.
The City of Riverside record database is available here. The available folders are: Administration, Agendas, Boards and Commissions, Chaindex, City Council/Agency Reports, Contracts/Agreements, Covenants and Agreements, Deed Chaindex, Deed Outs, Deeds, Discussion Session, Elections, Fiscal, General Plan 2025 Program, Insurance, Minutes, Miscellaneous, Ordinances, Purchase Orders, Resolutions, Upcoming Public Hearings.
The Agendas go back to 1997. The oldest deed that I could find was from 1955. The earliest Agreement is from 1960. Minutes date back to incorporation in 1883, Ordinances to 1907 (dating to the new series Ordinance 1).
There are many fascinating documents, including the Incorporation document from 1883. Of course, the City of Riverside was then in San Bernardino County, so the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors was William F. Holcomb, first elected to the position in 1882. Both his grandson and great-grandson would become mayors of San Bernardino.
So, you can’t get the Government Claim form online (I would suggest that someone who needs a claim form call 311, the City emailed it to me), but you can get a whole host of other documents that have a variety of uses.
[Update September 29, 2011]
San Bernardino also has such a system, which I stumbled upon while looking at Gigi Hanna’s website.
The information you obtain at this blog is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is established by reading or commenting on this blog. You should consult an attorney for advice regarding your individual situation.
About Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law
Michael Reiter, Municipal Attorney. Partner with Cole Huber, LLP in Ontario, Roseville California 