City of Pullman officials reported receiving 1,188 public records request during a five-month period from July to December 2017 according to a newly released report on state records practices. During that period, city staff spent an estimated 556 hours processing requests at a total cost of more than $300,000.
Officials calculated an average cost of about $250 per request and noted about 20 percent of requests were closed within five days. They did not face any lawsuits or litigation costs over records during the reporting period, which lasted from July 23 to Dec. 31.
A state law passed in 2017 required all public agencies that spent more than $100,000 a year on staff or legal costs needed to submit data on its public records practices. The Joint Legislative Audit & Review Committee released its complete data Monday.
(The state’s Legislative Task Force on Public Records also met today. Watch the full video of that hearing.)
Pullman officials categorized most of the city’s requests during this period as coming from “individuals.” Sixty-three requests came from the WSU Office of Student Conduct. Law firms made 16 records requests and insurance companies filed 23 requests. Media and city employees (current or former) filed another seven requests each.
Officials reportedly completely denied 43 public records request during that period. They partially denied another 217 request, citing “non conviction history data,” juvenile records, redactions for drivers license or credit card information and employee records.
Pullman fulfilled 98 percent of its requests electronically. The other 29 cases were closed without response.
The did not report any assessment of general requester satisfaction.
For some quick comparison, the City of Lacey, which has more than 12,000 more people than Pullman, received 1,150 requests and spent almost $498,000. Yakima, which has three times the population, received 1,246 requests and spent an estimated $205,000.
Whitman County “legislative/executive authority” did not submit any data because officials did not believe it met the $100,000 requirement.
Pullman Regional Hospital received just two requests during the 2017 reporting period. One from an “organization” and one from media. It filled both of those electronically. Staff spent about 21 hours processing the requests and an estimated total cost of $1,559.
Hospital officials described requesters as “satisfied.”
Port of Whitman County voluntarily submitted data, reporting just one request during the time period that cost about $20 to process.
Check back for the full Joint Legislative Audit & Review Committee analysis of statewide public records practices in January 2019.
Contact me at whitmancowatch@gmail.com with any questions about the report or local public records practices that you would like me to pursue.