A. Business Hours. Public records shall be available for inspection and copying during the city’s normal business hours: Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., excluding legal holidays. City public records must be inspected at the address listed in Section 2.10.020, unless another location is designated for a particular request by the public records officer.

B. Records Index. Maintaining a central index of the city’s public records would be unduly burdensome and would interfere with city operations, due to the small size of city staff, the number and complexity of public records generated by the wide range of city activities, and the cost of maintaining such an index. However, the city maintains an index of ordinances and resolutions adopted by the city council, which may be accessed on the city’s website online or by request of the public records officer.

C. Organization of Records. The city shall maintain its public records in a reasonably organized manner. The city shall take reasonable actions to protect public records from damage and disorganization. A requestor shall not take public records from the city’s business office, or from a location designated by the public records officer, without the permission of the public records officer.

D. Oral Records Requests. If a requestor makes an oral public records request, either by telephone or in person, the public records officer shall confirm the request with the requestor in writing. If the public records officer is unsure of the oral request, the public records officer may seek written clarification within five business days. If the requestor does not provide sufficient clarification to the request for clarification within thirty days of the original request, the request will be closed.

E. Records Request Form. No official format is required for making a request for inspection and copying of public records. The city will honor any request received in person during the city’s normal business hours, or by mail or email. Although no official format is required for making a request, the city recommends submitting a request on one of two forms provided on the city’s website, as applicable, at: http://www.algonawa.gov/general/page/request-public-records

F. Notice of Request. A requestor must provide the public records officer with reasonable notice that the request being made is for public records. If a request is contained in a larger document unrelated to a public records request, the requestor should point out the public records request by labeling the front page of the document as containing a public records request or otherwise calling the request to the attention of the public records officer, in order to facilitate timely responses to the request.

G. Invalid Request – Identifiable Records. A request must be for identifiable public records. A request for all or substantially all public records prepared, owned, used or retained by the city is not a valid request for identifiable public records. A request for all public records regarding a particular topic or containing a particular keyword or name shall not be considered a request for all of the city’s public records.

H. Request for Copies. If the requestor wishes to have copies of the public records made instead of simply inspecting them, the requestor should so indicate and make arrangements to pay for copies of the public records or to pay a deposit as required by the city.

I. Purpose of Request. A requestor need not state the purpose of the request. However, in an effort to clarify or prioritize a request and provide responsive documents, the public records officer may inquire about the nature or scope of the request. If the request is for a list of individuals, the public records officer may ask the requestor if he or she intends to use the public records for a commercial purpose, because the city is prohibited by law from disclosing lists of individuals for commercial purposes. RCW 42.56.070(8). (Ord. 1156-18 § 1).