Auditor: Records-request audit is done

• Published May 19, 2008

The state Auditor’s Office has released its final report final report on a sampling of public-records responses by 10 state agencies, 10 cities and 10 counties.

It's a nearly 180-page document.

Here’s a link to a story we did on the draft audit report issued in late March, focusing on Thurston County, the lone local government in South Sound that was examined. The final report findings were overall positive but voiced concerns such as these: Here’s a snippet from the conclusions:

The auditor issued recommendations and urged agencies to follow the Attorney General’s model rules.

Victor Moore, director of the governor’s Office of Financial Management, sent Sonntag a letter explaining the state’s response to the audit. He also said agencies have policies that are consistent with the Public Records Act “and will consider incorporating the advisory Model Rules if they have not been already done.”

And he said the government is making “a significant effort” to find ways to make records available electronically. OFM’s risk management division also holds training forums for records officers and agencies train their staff — including 18,000 staffers who were given records act basics at the Department of Social and Health Services.

Jason Mercier, who is a member of the Washington Coalition for Open Government and a staffer with Washington Policy Center, said this on his blog about the audit and the costs of government non-compliance. He cited recent cases in which the state Department of Corrections paid $65,000 to settle one records case and $541,000 to settle another. He also cited a $299,000 settlement in Spokane over records for a parking garage.