2.70.080 Requests for public records.

(1)    In accordance with requirements of the Washington Public Records Act that agencies prevent unreasonable invasions of privacy, protect public records from damage or disorganization, and prevent excessive interference with essential functions of the agency, public records may be inspected or copies of such records may be obtained, by members of the public, upon compliance with the following procedures:

(a)    Written Requests. A request shall be made in writing through use of the online public records request portal (or by mail, fax or electronic mail if desired) upon a form prescribed by the county agency which shall be available at the offices where records are maintained. A request that is made other than upon the form prescribed by the office is permissible, but must provide the information listed in subsections (1)(a)(i) through (v) of this section. The request form shall be presented to the public records officer or public records coordinator, or to a member of the staff designated by him or her, if the public records officer or coordinator is not available, at the office during the office hours specified in this chapter. The request shall include the following information:

(i)    Appropriate contact information for the person requesting the record, together with preferred method to receive records;

(ii)    The time of day and calendar date on which the request was made;

(iii)    Description of the records being sought;

(iv)    If the request is for a list of individuals, the requester shall certify that the request is not for commercial purposes, except as provided by state law;

(v)    The requester, at his or her option, may provide additional information necessary to determine the application of a statute or other law authorizing disclosure or exemption from disclosure of the record(s) requested.

(b)     In all cases in which a member of the public is making a request, it shall be the obligation of the public records officer, public records coordinator, or designated staff member to whom the request is made, to assist the member of the public in appropriately identifying and locating the public record requested.

(2)    Identifiable Records. Requests must reasonably identify the public record(s) the requestor is seeking to obtain. A request for all or substantially all records prepared, owned, used, or retained by an agency is not a valid request for identifiable records. A “bot request” which a county employee reasonably believes was automatically generated by a computer program or script shall be denied. Any request which does not reasonably identify the public record(s) being sought shall be denied.

(3)    Lack of Existing Records. County employees are not required to create documents in response to a public records request or to perform research, retrieve data, provide analysis, information or any report relating to the conduct of county business when no document exists that is responsive to the request.

(4)    Multiple Requests from the Same Requestor. At the discretion of the public records coordinator, multiple requests received from the same requestor may be:

(a)    Combined and responded to as one (1) request; or

(b)    Processed consecutively, responding to one (1) of the requestor’s requests at a time. The requestor may designate a priority for one (1) request over another. (Sec. 8 of Ord. 2007-07-09; amended by Sec. 5 of Ord. 2018-06-04)