PORT ANGELES — Proposed revisions to the city’s public records ordinance rewrites most of the document that governs the city’s process of how it processes requestd for access to public documents.
The City Council, meeting last night, chose to table any action on the city staff’s proposal for 30 days due to concerns raised by three members of the League of Women Voters of Clallam County.
Most of what would be rewritten in the city’s current public records ordinance would be replaced by a separate document, known as “Exhibit A,” or otherwise called the city’s “policy regarding public records requests.”
City Manager Kent Myers said the purpose of the proposed revisions is to make the process more efficient for both citizens and city staff, since the number of records request have risen dramatically over the last two years — including updates to state law and state Supreme Court rulings that were followed, but not written in the ordinance.
But how would the revisions affect the seeking of public documents?
City staff will still have to respond within five business days, as required by state law, to a requestor and let him or her know that the documents are available, request something to be clarified by the requestor, or to deny the request.
With the proposed revisions, the city may also use additional time beyond those five days to respond to a request if the request needs to be clarified, locate and assemble documents, use the requested record in the city’s normal course of business, notify a third party affected by the request, or to determine that a record is exempt.
