PORT ANGELES — In what was described as an “important step” for public records management, Clallam County commissioners have adopted a new public records policy.
The policy and associated ordinance were designed to make it easier for residents to request information from the county government and to help county officials who process the requests.
The three commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the ordinance, which adds a public records chapter to county code, and a resolution to repeal and replace a 2004 public records policy.
“I’m sure that it’s not perfect,” Board Chairman Mark Ozias said of the new language.
“I’m sure that we’ll have more work to do. But this is an important step forward for the county in terms of our public records management.”
After Clallam County paid $518,000 to settle Public Records Act litigation last July, a group of county officials began meeting to develop a work plan, which resulted in countywide training and the new ordinance and policy.
The county invested in content management software that has improved the efficiency of searches for electronic records and helped to identify responsive documents, officials have said.
It also hired three part-time archivists to cull paper records, scan them into an electronic format and process them appropriately.
The new ordinance and policy codifies the establishment of a full-time Clallam County public records officer.
Former Clerk of the Board Trish Holden assumed the role of public records officer last January. She has worked with Chief Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Alvarez to refine the ordinance and policy based on written and verbal testimony received at an April 11 public hearing.
The approved ordinance states that the public records officer will serve as a “point of contact” for citizens requesting documents.
Requests to other county officials must be forwarded to Holden or her successor within one business day, according to the adopted ordinance.
“They key underlying policy should be that someone in the county has their fingers on all of the pulses of all the requests because of agency liability that occurs,” Alvarez said in a May 1 board work session.
“You really want to have public records be simple for the requester.”
In Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners thanked Holden, Alvarez and others who helped develop the ordinance and policy.
“It’s a tremendous amount of effort that’s gone into it,” Commissioner Bill Peach said.
Ozias said the purpose of the ordinance and policy was to “make things as clear and straightforward as possible for citizens who are looking to obtain information, and to make it as clear and consistent as possible inside the organization for our records management.”
Peach, who serves on the Washington State Association of Counties, has said other counties are being sued over public records.
County Administrator Jim Jones said there is a “cottage industry” of Public Records Act litigation affecting counties across the state.
“Customer service for the people who want the information should be one of our highest callings,” Jones said in the May 1 work session.
“But [there are] people who literally do not even want the information. In fact, they hope you ignore them or don’t provide enough routine backup to prove you didn’t ignore them so that they can sue later to get a nuisance claim settled.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
