Lacey responded to 2,700 records requests in 2019 at an estimated cost of $384,000
The city of Lacey responded to 2,700 public records requests in 2019, making it a busy year for public information, according to city data.
So far in 2020, the city has filled roughly 1,940 records requests, City Clerk Peri Edmonds said.
Edmonds recently presented the data to a Lacey City Council committee and will share it with a Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee, something the state legislature requires when a municipality’s records request expenses total $100,000 or more.
Lacey estimated its costs for 2019 at about $384,000, or $140 per request.
Edmonds said the city arrived at its estimate by taking a “percentage of base salary, plus benefits of specific staff to calculate this cost,” she said in an email. “The City Attorney’s office also provides an estimate of how many hours were spent providing legal review.”
The total is then divided by the number of requests received for that year, she said.
The city recovered just $48 in costs. That’s because Edmonds said most records are provided electronically.
“Although the city can charge a requester 5 cents for each four electronic files or attachments, or 10 cents per gigabyte, sometimes these thresholds are not met and, therefore, there is no fee assessed,” she said.
Typical requests were for traffic collision reports from Lacey police, but the city also had to respond to records requests tied to two lawsuits against Joint Animal Services and the city. The plaintiff in the lawsuits submitted 35 records requests.
Although Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater and Thurston County jointly contribute to the Animal Services budget, Lacey is responsible for the administrative side of agency, Finance Director Troy Woo said.
2019 records request data
▪ Of the 2,700 requests, 220 contained redactions, in which private information is blacked out. There were 140 records that needed additional clarification and 22 were abandoned by the requester.
▪ The most common records requested: collision/accident reports, investigation reports and arrest records from the police department, as well as city emails, building plans/permits, code violations, a homeowners’ association directory, and request for proposal responses/bids.
▪ The number of records requests per department: Police, 2,234; city, 346; Joint Animal Services, 119.
▪ Average number of days to close a request: Police, two days; city, 15 days. Data for the average number of days to close a Animal Services request was unavailable, according to the city.
▪ The three largest requests by volume: Staff spent 40 hours on a police department case report, 24 hours on multiple police department reports and 21 hours for a request for “any and all photos around Gwinwood Christian Camp and Conference Center,” which is on Hicks Lake in Lacey.
