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County flooded with records requests

TARYN THOMPSON/Staff writer | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 years AGO
by TARYN THOMPSON/Staff writer
| May 8, 2014 9:00 PM

COEUR d'ALENE - Kootenai County has three elected commissioners, five other elected department heads and a whole lot of confusion when it comes to public records requests.

They met Wednesday with a single-item agenda: Discussing procedures for handling the public's requests for information.

Commissioner Todd Tondee said the county is receiving so many records requests that employees are overwhelmed and struggling to keep track of the requests, meet deadlines for responding and provide good customer service.

Tondee said the suggestion had been made that the county delegate one person to handle records requests, as a clearinghouse of sorts. With six different departments headed by elected officials, Tondee said that could be difficult.

Prosecutor Barry McHugh said one of the challenges for any one person would be knowing what documents are in the custody of each department and where to direct the records requests.

"At the outset, that might be a challenge," he said. "Not to say that it's insurmountable."

Tondee said "routine requests" are no problem, but others require legal review because they are of a sensitive nature or contain information that might be exempt under Idaho's Public Records Law.

Sometimes requests are "blanketed," he said, or sent to multiple departments and elected officials at the same time. It isn't always clear, he said, who should respond.

Nancy Jones, an administrative assistant for the commissioners, said sometimes requests come in seeking both financial information and minutes of a meeting.

"Now you're making a request that crosses departments," she said.

She said having a central person handling records requests could help in coordinating responses when more than one department is involved.

Civil attorneys in McHugh's department provide legal advice for all of the county's elected officials and departments. One department, though, might work with a different civil attorney than another department.

"If two people ask two different attorneys and we get two different opinions, we have an issue," Sheriff Ben Wolfinger said. "I don't think all the attorneys are on the same page regarding public records laws."

County Clerk Jim Brannon asked if elected officials need to abide by a civil attorney's legal opinion.

McHugh said each elected official gets to decide for themselves whether to follow the attorney's advice.

Ultimately, each elected official is responsible for their own choices, Tondee said. "You could create liability for the entire county."

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