Officials get rundown on open meetings, records laws

An audience of 55 attended a forum about the Open Meetings Act, Appearance of Fairness Doctrine and Retaining Records Laws at the McGregor Co. Training Center at Mockonema on Sept. 25.

Attendees included state, county and city officials, according to Karen Kiessling, vice president of the Pullman League of Women Voters which sponsored the event.

The panel was made up of Toby Nixon, president of Washington Coalition for Open Government, a Microsoft computer manager and a Kirkland City Councilman; Scott Sackett, management consultant for the Washington State Archives Electronic Records; Bill Will, general manager of Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, and Emily Kelly Arneson, a Spokane attorney.

Moderator Anna King, a reporter for the Northwest News Network, fielded questions for the panel.

Nixon began the forum by explaining types of public meetings and official voting. Sackett explained the retention requirements for public records and whether records have archival value or should be destroyed.

Sackett said the archive building in Cheney opened in 2004 and in one year had 3.5 million records stored. By Sept. 25, 2013, they anticipate 136,473,083 records stored in Cheney’s building.

Sackett explained there’s an increasing demand for records searches by the agency. Since 2006, requests for research in paper archives have increased by 21 percent and requests for searches in electronic archives by 533 percent.

Will said he firmly believes that the media is the unofficial fourth branch of the government.

“A reporter in the truest sense acts as a representative of the public,” he said.

Arneson said she specializes in media law and represents media outlets. She also explained that state law requires all agencies to make records available for inspection, and that an agency has five days to respond to a public records request.

“The public is entitled to know certain things,” she said.

After the panel’s presentations, the audience asked questions. Whitman County Commissioner Art Swannack told the panel that he takes notes during commissioners’ executive sessions, which are not open to the public, and asked if those notes are considered public records.

Nixon explained that personal notes kept by an elected official aren’t public record. However, if the official shares the notes, they become public record.

“Expect you have no privacy if you’re a government official,” Arneson advised.

An audience member asked about nuisance requests, if someone makes random requests a number of times taking time away from government workers.

Nixon cited a case where a woman made multiple requests to an office that had one city clerk. The city claimed her requests were malicious, but the city had adopted no policy about nuisance requests. The woman claimed discrimination and took the city to court.

Nixon said he knew of three cities which adopted regulations about public records requests. Gold Bar in western Washington adopted no more than 12 hours a month be devoted to public records requests. Pasco and Kirkland also adopted a public records request budget.

Nixon said cities and towns need written policy about time devoted to records requests so it doesn’t interfere with other services a public entity is expected to provide.

He cited a University of Washington case in which a woman who asked for 12,000 pages of information to support a discrimnation suit. She subsquently sued the university for not responding to the information requests in a timely manner because it hampered her discovery efforts in preparing for the suit. She was awarded approximatley $700,000 in damages. Arneson said she believes the case will be appealed.

Another question raised was who is responsible for making sure elected officials know the rules and regulations of public meetings and records. The panel all agreed there’s a lot of opportunity for training, but there are no legal mandates.

Nixon said the coalition for open government is pushing the state legislature for officials to get training. He said the state attorney general has agreed to sponsor a bill in the 2014 legislature.

Colfax City Clerk Connie Ellis asked about responsibility of government workers complying with public requests for records. She said home buyers are now requesting building permit records which they say are requested by insurance companies.

The panel said she could ask for clarification in writing.

“You don’t have to guess what they’re asking for,” Arneson said. “You don’t have to provide copies, but they can be inspected.”