Chapter 2.10
INSPECTION AND COPYING
OF PUBLIC RECORDS

Sections:

2.10.010 Definitions.

2.10.020 Inspection and copying.

2.10.030 Response to requests for inspection and copying.

2.10.040 Research not to be performed – Public records not sufficiently identified.

2.10.050 Certain public records exempt from inspection and copying – Deletion of exempt portions thereof.

2.10.060 Electronic communication initiated by city council members.

2.10.070 Electronically stored data and information.

2.10.080 Costs and expenses for inspection and copying.

2.10.090 Findings on order regarding public records index.

2.10.095 Order regarding public records index.

2.10.010 Definitions.

(1) “Nonpublic record” means any writing containing information not relating to the conduct of government, and not relating to the performance of any governmental or proprietary function, retained or in the possession of the city regardless of form or characteristics.

(2) “Public record” means any writing containing information relating to the conduct of government, or the performance of any governmental or proprietary function prepared, owned, used or retained by the city regardless of form or characteristics.

(3) “Writing” means handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostating, and every other means of recording any form of communication or representation, including, but not limited to, letters, words, pictures, sounds or symbols, or combination thereof, and all papers, maps, magnetic or paper tapes, photographic films and prints, motion pictures, film and video recordings, magnetic or punched cards, discs, drums, diskettes, sound recordings, and other documents including existing data compilations from which information may be obtained or translated. (Ord. 2606 § 1, 1995).

2.10.020 Inspection and copying.

(1) Public records possessed by the city shall be available for inspection and copying between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. daily except for Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

(2) All requests to inspect and copy public records shall be in writing, on forms prescribed by the city clerk, and shall identify the public records sought for such inspection and copying.

(3) All requests to inspect and copy public records, except as otherwise provided herein, shall be submitted to the city clerk or his/her designee. (Ord. 2606 § 1, 1995).

2.10.030 Response to requests for inspection and copying.

(1) Responses to requests for inspection and copying of public records shall be made promptly.

(a) If the request is for public records maintained by the city clerk, such request shall be granted or denied within five business days thereafter. If granted, the requesting party shall be provided with necessary assistance in performing the inspection, and copying equipment shall be made available. Such copying equipment shall include that which is possessed by the city to either copy such public records on the same format (i.e., printed or written to be photocopied, electronic tape to electronic tape, computer stored information to diskette) or converted to a readable format (i.e., computer stored information printed on paper), at the option of the requester.

(b) If the request is for public records maintained by a department or office of the city other than that of the city clerk, the request shall be promptly forwarded to the department or office of the city possessing such public records, and the appropriate department head or his/her designee shall grant or deny such request within four business days after receipt thereof by such department or office. If granted, the requesting party shall be provided with necessary assistance in performing the inspection, and copying equipment shall be made available. Such copying equipment shall include that which is possessed by the city to either copy such public records on the same format (i.e., printed or written to be photocopied, electronic tape to electronic tape, computer stored information to diskette) or converted to a readable format (i.e., computer stored information printed on paper), at the option of the requester.

(c) If the city does not possess equipment to copy the requested public records in a manner or format sought by the requester, and if such equipment is available commercially, the person responding to such request shall determine the cost of such copying and notify the requester that the city does not possess the equipment to make the requested copies and the estimated cost of commercial copying.

(2) Requests for inspection and copying may be made directly to the following departments or offices of the city, without first submitting such requests to the city clerk:

(a) Executive (city manager, human resources, city attorney);

(b) Fire department;

(c) Parks and recreation;

(d) Community and economic development;

(e) Police department;

(f) Public works.

(3) Requests for inspection and copying of identifiable public records, received by mail, shall be honored if doing so does not require an excessive amount of research or retrieval time of city employees, does not excessively interfere with essential governmental functions, and if payment therefor is made in advance.

(4) The city clerk, the department head or other person receiving a request for inspection and copying shall respond thereto by:

(a) Providing the requested public record;

(b) Acknowledging that the request has been reviewed and advising the requester of the estimated time necessary to provide the requested information; or

(c) Denying the request.

Additional time required to respond to a request may be based upon the need to clarify the intent of the request, to locate and assemble the information requested, to notify third persons or agencies affected by the request, or to determine whether any of the information requested is exempt and that a denial should be made as to all or part of the request. In acknowledging receipt of a public record request that is unclear, the requester may be asked to clarify what information is sought. If the requester fails to clarify the request, further response to the request shall not be made.

Denials of requests must be accompanied by a written statement of the specific reasons therefor.

Whenever a request for inspection and copying has been denied in whole or in part, the requester may present the matter to the city attorney for review; such review shall be conducted as promptly as reasonably possible, and shall constitute final action for the purposes of judicial review. (Ord. 2774 § 1, 2000; Ord. 2606 § 1, 1995).

2.10.040 Research not to be performed – Public records not sufficiently identified.

Written requests for inspection and copying of public records shall not be honored if such requests require city employees to compile information, perform research, require reformatting of data, if the public records sought by the requester are not sufficiently identified, or if the information requested to be inspected and copied consists of nonpublic records. (Ord. 2606 § 1, 1995).

2.10.050 Certain public records exempt from inspection and copying – Deletion of exempt portions thereof.

Public records described in RCW 42.56.210 (Certain personal and other records exempt), 42.56.230 (Personal information), 42.56.240 (Investigative, law enforcement, and crime victims), 42.56.250 (Employment and licensing), 42.56.260 (Real estate appraisals), 42.56.270 (Financial, commercial, and proprietary information; expires June 30, 2008), 42.56.280 (Preliminary drafts, notes, recommendations, intra-agency memorandums), 42.56.290 (Agency party to controversy), 42.56.300 (Archaeological sites), 42.56.310 (Library records), 42.56.320 (Educational information), 42.56.330 (Public utilities and transportation), 42.56.390 (Emergency or transitional housing), 42.56.420 (Security), 42.56.430 (Fish and wildlife), 42.56.460 (Fireworks), and any other public records exempt from public inspection and copying by the laws of the state of Washington shall not be available for public inspection and copying; provided, however, when exempt portions of public records can be erased, excised or deleted, the remainder thereof shall be open to public inspection and copying. (Ord. 3005 § 1, 2007; Ord. 2606 § 1, 1995).

2.10.060 Electronic communication initiated by city council members.

(1) Electronic communications (e-mail) initiated by members of the city council and simultaneously directed to three or more other members of the city council are declared to be public records and subject to public inspection and copying. Such communications, prior to deletion from electronic storage, shall be printed on paper or transferred to a diskette or similar medium and retained in the office of the city clerk.

(2) A printed transcript of or diskette containing such electronic communications shall be available for public inspection and copying. (Ord. 2606 § 1, 1995).

2.10.070 Electronically stored data and information.

Public records in the form of information or data which is electronically stored (on the memory of a computer, a diskette, a magnetic tape, a compact disc, or in other similar ways) shall be subject to public inspection and copying in the following manner:

(1) Information or data that is publicly available by computer access without submission of a request for inspection and copying may be inspected and copied by any person or persons having access to computer equipment capable of such inspection and copying. Subject to budget and financial constraints, public access computer equipment may be made available without charge by the city at public locations.

(2) Information or data that is not publicly available by computer access without submission of a request for inspection and copying, but which constitutes public records and is stored, contained or available as data or information within the memory or storage facilities of computer or electronic equipment, is subject to inspection and copying only with the cooperative services of city employees familiar with the operation of equipment that permits such inspection and copying to occur. When public records are adequately identified by the requester, a city employee designated by the city clerk or other appropriate department head shall examine the information to determine if it contains exempt or nonpublic records. If such examination reveals any data or information that is exempt from public inspection and copying, the requested public record shall be printed on paper or transferred to a diskette or similar medium with the exempt portions thereof deleted; if the examination reveals any data that is nonpublic record, inspection and copying thereof shall not be permitted. If the examination reveals no exempt information and no nonpublic records, the person requesting inspection and copying at his or her option may either view the information on a computer screen, have the information transferred to a diskette or other compatible storage medium, or ask that the information be printed on paper; provided, however, that the viewing of such information on a computer screen shall not be permitted except where the computer is operated by a city employee and where diverting such city employee from his or her regular duties in order to operate such computer to permit such viewing would not cause excessive interference with essential functions of the city. (Ord. 2606 § 1, 1995).

2.10.080 Costs and expenses for inspection and copying.

(1) The city shall impose no charge for the services of city employees who assist in inspection and copying of public records; provided, however, that if a city employee performs research other than information and/or data retrieval, a charge equal to the hourly wages of such employee shall be paid by the person requesting the performance of such research.

(2) Copies of printed material shall be charged at the rate of $0.10 per page if performed on city-possessed copying equipment. More than 50 pages (eight and one-half inches by 11 inches or larger) shall not be copied on city-possessed equipment in response to any single request for inspection and copying; such copies must be performed by a commercial copy-maker at the expense of the requester. The city will arrange for such copies to be made, however, payment to the city by the requester shall be made in advance. If it is necessary to have copies made commercially due to size or configuration of the information sought to be copied, the requester shall pay the city in advance the cost thereof.

(3) The cost of video tapes or reproductions, magnetic tapes, diskettes, photographs, pictures, and other communication media material necessary to make copies of public records shall be at the cost of the requester, payable in advance before copies are made. (Ord. 2606 § 1, 1995).

2.10.090 Findings on order regarding public records index.

(1) The Revised Code of Washington (“RCW”) requires all cities and public agencies to maintain and make available a current index of all public records.

(2) The RCW also states that if maintaining such an agency operation, a city must issue and publish a formal order specifying the reasons why and the extent to which compliance would be unduly burdensome.

(3) When such an order is made, all indexes maintained by that city must be made available to provide identifying information on those records which are available for inspection and/or copying.

(4) The city of Longview is comprised of 14 departments, their divisions and subdivisions, which maintain separate databases and/or record-keeping systems for the indexing of records and information.

(5) Because the city has records which are diverse, complex and stored in multiple locations and in multiple computer systems and databases, it is unduly burdensome, if not physically impossible, to maintain a central index of records.

(6) The city will fully comply with the provisions of the RCW as they relate to the Public Disclosure Act, under Chapter 42.56 RCW. (Ord. 3006 § 1, 2007).

2.10.095 Order regarding public records index.

Based upon the findings set forth in LMC 2.10.090, and pursuant to RCW 42.56.070(4)(a), the city council orders the following:

(1) The city of Longview is not required to maintain an all-inclusive index of public records, due to findings of the city council that the requirement is unduly burdensome and such a list is nearly impossible to create and/or maintain.

(2) The city of Longview shall make available all public records and any indexes created for internal use upon request by any citizen. Said indexes shall be maintained and released in order to obtain those records which are public and not protected by the exemption portion of the statutes, namely Chapter 42.56 RCW. (Ord. 3006 § 1, 2007).