Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Private Investigation News: Does Snohomish have a public records request overload problem?

"Snohomish County leaders want help from state lawmakers to cut down the time and expense they spend responding to requests for public records, a concern they share with government colleagues in Washington and beyond.

The county receives thousands of requests each year from individuals, neighborhood groups, attorneys and reporters. Often, county staff will compile stacks of records that sit, gathering dust, without anybody coming to pick them up.

County Council responses to public records fill four metal file drawers. There's also a cart that holds the pending requests.

"I would frankly not be surprised to find out that there is in excess of $1 million per year being spent by this county in staff time," County Council Chairman Dave Gossett said. "The real challenge here is to comply with the legitimate need of citizens to know what their government is doing and to ask questions, with the tremendous amount of work that some of these very broad and repetitive requests create."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator