HomeMy WebLinkAboutFIN 2024-02-26 Item 1A - Funding - Increase to 1.0 Full-Time Employee for Public Records Requests MitigationCity of Tukwila
Thomas McLeod, Mayor
INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM
TO: Finance & Governance Committee
BY: Andy Youn, Deputy City Clerk
CC:
Mayor McLeod
Marty Wine, Interim City Administrator
Christy O'Flaherty, Records Governance Manager/ City Clerk
DATE: February 20, 2024
SUBJECT: Public records requests mitigation and
request to increase current 0.5 FTE to 1.0 FTE
ISSUE
Public agencies are required to comply with the Public Records Act or face substantial sanctions
for failures to respond to or provide records. The City Clerk's Office is requesting Council approval
for additional staffing to support the heavy workload associated with public records requests.
BACKGROUND
In 2006, the Public Disclosure Statutes were recodified as the Public Records Act (identified in
RCW 42.56), changing the landscape of government transparency by requiring public agencies
to make public records (physical or electronic) available upon request. The Public Records Act
requires that the City respond within 5 business days to all requests for public records either by
making the record available, providing a reasonable estimate of availability, requesting
clarification, or denying the request if there is a statutory exemption.
The City Clerk's Office coordinates complex, multi -departmental records requests as the
department responsible for administering the City's Records Management Program, and for
managing governmental transparency to the public. These requests are often in concurrence with
pending litigation against the City and require close coordination with the Attorney's Office to
mitigate legal and financial risk to the City. The City Clerk's Office also reports annually to the
State Legislature's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) on required
performance metrics related to public records retention, management, and disclosure.
The City Clerk is currently the Public Records Officer for the City and oversees Citywide
compliance with the Public Records Act. This includes:
• Interpreting and distributing the request to staff
• Corresponding with requestors
• Managing the Citywide search for, review of, and delivery of responsive records
• Managing the redaction of exempt and sensitive information
• Database tracking
• Records retention and destruction
• Providing guidance to departmental liaisons on handling departmental requests
• Coordinating with the City Attorney's Office on redactions, exemptions,
third -party notices, and Nissen Affidavits.
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INFORMATIONAL MEMO
Page 2
DISCUSSION
Since staff began tracking public records data in
2010, the total number of requests (Figure 1)
received annually by the Clerk's Office has
steadily increased, with a record number of
requests received in 2019 (161 total). The total
number of requests received does not
sufficiently describe the scope of work involved
in responding, which may range from providing
a simple link to an existing document, to
providing thousands of email records with
attachments that first need to be reviewed by
Clerk's Office staff for responsiveness and to
ensure exempt information is not released.
Figure 2 shows an approximation of the number
of electronic records reviewed by staff and
provided to requestors over the past few years.
The number of files is considerable but does not
fully capture other components such as
metadata, multiple tabs in an excel document,
and files that contain hyperlinks. In other words,
this is an undercount of the true scope of work.
Staff Time on Public Records Requests Annually
(Clerk's Office)
1689
1463
Hours (annual)
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
O
Figure 3
years and have "commercialized" the process
records on behalf of their business clients.
requestor of municipal records with an average
individuals (30%), and other requestors (7%).
0
N
0
O
N
0
0
00 0,
0 0 a -I
0
N N N
ON N N
O O 0
N N N
1628
0
N
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
90
93
Number of Requests Annually
(Clerk's Office)
161
.•74 7
65
O
0
N
0
N
N
0
N
CO
0
0
N
147
131
ii.1213
131 130
18
Lf1
0
N
0
N
N.
0
N
11
CO
0
N
0
N
0
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O
N
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0
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0
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0
N 1
Figure 1
Total Files Reviewed
2017
12,214
2018
131,508
2019
40,638
2020
11,688
2021
19,444
2022
61,058
2023
43,867
Figure 2
Requests can often take weeks or months to
fulfill due to the litigious nature and
complexity, and available staff capacity. As
shown in Figure 3, the growing scope of
requests over the years has resulted in a
steady increase in the total staff time spent on
Public Records Requests. Two major factors
have contributed to the sharp increase in time
spent on requests: 1) The growing reliance on
technology and software systems over the
years has resulted in more digital records that
become part of the public record and therefore
must be provided in response to requests; and
2) Requestors have grown savvier over the
of public records requests by seeking municipal
Business organizations are the most frequent
of 43% of requests, compared to law firms (20%),
While the goal is to complete requests within the legal 5-day timeframe upon receipt, as shown in
Figure 4, less than half of requests were closed within 5 business days. Requests took an average
of 18 days to fulfill in 2023. In 2023, the longest request took 182 days for City Clerk staff to
complete and would have taken longer had the requestor not cancelled the request due to the
resolution of their pending litigation against the City.
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Requests closed in 5 days
77%
68%
73%
50%
56%
57%
57%
Average days to close
11
18
16
23
19
20
18
2
Figure 4
INFORMATIONAL MEMO
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Responding to Public Records Requests can be labor intensive, but noncompliance can result in
hefty sanctions, fines, and legal fees imposed against the City as well as the loss of public trust.
Courts often fine public agencies for failure to recognize requests, interpreting requests too
narrowly, performing inadequate searches, and failure to provide records in a timely manner.
Some examples of the heavy cost of failure to comply with the Public Records Act include:
• A $575,000 settlement in 2014 by Snohomish County to resolve a lawsuit brought by a
non-profit group that submitted more than 275 requests. The County failed to respond
timely to 4 of the requests.
• A 2019 Pierce County settlement of $950,000 with former employee Nissen, after an 8-
year case to disclose then -County Prosecutor's text messages. This landmark case
found that work -related text messages from the private phone were required to be
disclosed, resulting in the implementation of "Nissen affidavits" as records.
• The Port of Quincy paid $350,000 in 2022 to a requestor as a result of missing one of
four emails requesting public records that had landed in the spam folder.
Continued media coverage on the Public Records Act, an influx of new technologies, the growing
demand for access to government records, and ever -evolving records requirements by the State
all translate to increased workload impacts when it comes to public records requests. There are
also immediate impacts based on current events and activities: Requests are often submitted in
conjunction with pending or potential litigation, in response to issues happening locally or
nationally, actions taken (or not taken) by the City, and many other scenarios.
Over the years, the urgent need for high-level staffing dedicated to public records request has
become very apparent. As a service that is both legally mandated and high -risk, the escalating
impact of public records requests on public agencies cannot be overstated, especially given the
fluctuating and unpredictable nature of this workload. While the Clerk's Office has sought to
absorb public records request workload on top of existing core functions, this approach is
becoming unsustainable and presents legal and financial risk for the City.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Prior to budget cuts, the Clerk's Office used available departmental funds towards public records
request support. However, due to the minimal available hours and high level of responsibility
required in this support role, maintaining staffing has proven difficult. As part of the 2023-2024
Biennial Budget, the Council approved funding for a 0.5 FTE (full time equivalent) Public Records
Request Assistant. The City Clerk's Office is requesting this existing position be increased to 1.0
FTE to provide the necessary support to handle the workload associated with public records
requests at a high level, given the legal and financial risks, evolving mandates, complexity of
reporting requirements, and sensitive information handled in this position. The costs associated
with this position are estimated to be $94,000 (salary and benefits) and will be absorbed in the
current City Clerk's budget using available salary savings.
RECOMMENDATION
The Committee is being asked to approve an increase from 0.5 FTE to 1.0 FTE for the City
Clerk's Office for staffing of Public Records Requests, to be included in the year-end budget
amendment, and forward this item for consideration to the March 11 Committee of the Whole
and March 18 Regular Meeting Consent Agenda.
ATTACHMENTS
None.
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