2.04.030 Availability of Public Records.
A. Hours for Inspection of Records. Public records are available for inspection and copying during normal business hours of Pierce County and any of its applicable agencies, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding legal holidays. Records must be inspected at the offices of the public records officer or designee for Pierce County or its applicable agency set forth in PCC 2.04.020 or such other County office designed by the public records officer or designee.
B. Records Index. The Pierce County Council finds that maintaining an index is unduly burdensome and would interfere with agency operations for Pierce County and its applicable agencies. The requirement would unduly burden or interfere with Pierce County operations and with that of its applicable agencies because Pierce County employs approximately 3,500 employees who generate hundreds of records on a daily basis that include final opinions and orders made in the adjudication of cases, statements of policy, interpretations of policy, administrative manuals, instructions to staff that affect members of the public, planning policies and goals, interim and final planning decisions, factual staff reports and studies, factual consultant's reports and studies, scientific reports and studies, factual information derived from tests, studies, reports, or surveys, and correspondence and materials referred to therein relating to regulatory, supervisory, or enforcement responsibilities. Virtually every County department would be required to devote several full-time employees exclusively to the task of collecting, reading, categorizing, indexing, and maintaining a current index of such records. In addition, the time required by other employees to ensure that the records were forwarded to the designated employees for indexing and communicating with the designated employee regarding the purposes of the records would be substantial. Because of the size of Pierce County, the volume and variety of such records and lack of available resources to devote to such an endeavor, creating an index would be unduly burdensome and would unduly interfere with agency operations.
C. Organization of Records. Pierce County maintains its records in a reasonably organized manner. Pierce County and each of its agencies will take reasonable actions to protect records from damage and disorganization. A requester shall not take original records from Pierce County offices or that of its agencies. A variety of records is available on the Pierce County website at www.co.pierce.wa.us. Requesters are encouraged to view the documents available on the website prior to submitting a records request.
D. Making a Request for Public Records.
1. A record request must be addressed to the designated public records officer of the specific Pierce County agency that is the subject of the request and delivered by U.S. mail, email, fax or by use of the Pierce County public record request portal located at the following County website: https://www.piercecountywa.gov/2711/Making-a-Public-Records-Request. Any person wishing to inspect or obtain copies of public records of any Pierce County agency should make the request in writing on Pierce County's standard request form. Requests to inspect or copy public records may be submitted in person at any County department during normal business hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Any and all email communications concerning a public record request shall be transmitted only to those County designated email addresses listed at the following website: https://www.piercecountywa.gov/2709/Public-Records-Officers-and-Forms. Electronic communications concerning a public record request transmitted to any other email address, to include the individual email account of any Pierce County employee, will be deemed invalid. A request for public records should be submitted in writing to the designated public records officer and include the following information:
a. Legal name of requester;
b. Mailing address of requester;
c. Other requester contact information, including telephone number, fax number, and any email address;
d. Reasonable description of the records being requested, along with sufficient detail to permit the public records officer or designee to identify and locate the records;
e. The date and time of the request;
f. The name of the County department that is the subject of the request and the name of the public records officer designated for that department; and
g. Whether the requester seeks to inspect records or obtain copies.
2. Persons seeking information about public records or information on locating records available for inspection and copying from Pierce County may seek assistance from the Pierce County Public Records Ombudsperson. The Public Records Ombudsperson may facilitate the identification and location of records which are available for production and minimize unnecessary effort and cost to the County and to persons seeking available records. The applicable County agency public records officer may provide an information copy of complex public records requests to the Public Records Ombudsperson.
3. If the requester wishes to have copies of the records made, instead of simply inspecting them, he or she shall so indicate and make arrangements to pay for copies of the records or at least make a deposit of 10 percent of the cost of copying estimated by the public records officer or designee before copying will commence.
4. If a request seeks records that would include a list of individuals, the requester will be required to provide a declaration under penalty of perjury certifying sufficient facts from which the public records officer or designee can reasonably determine that the records will not be used for any commercial purpose (profit-expecting activity) as prohibited by RCW 42.56.070(8) unless specifically authorized by other law. The public records officer is authorized to conduct research to confirm whether the request is for commercial purposes.
5. Persons requesting public records for which other laws limit or prohibit disclosure to a particular class of persons or for limited purposes will be required to provide a declaration under penalty of perjury certifying sufficient facts from which the public records officer or designee can reasonably determine that the legal requirements for disclosure of such records to the requester have been met. Where access to a record is limited by law to a specific class of persons such as the individual who is the subject of the record, a County agency may require the requester to appear in person and provide government issued identification prior to inspection or copying. The agency may copy the identification and retain it in the record response file.
6. Records available in electronic format that do not require redaction may be provided to a requester in native format unless the requester specifically asks that they be provided in paper or other form. When requested and deemed by the County to be reasonably translatable, electronic records may be converted from one format to another electronic format subject to the customized access service provisions and charges authorized under subsection E.8 of this Section.
E. Costs.
1. There is no cost to inspect a public record.
2. The Pierce County Council finds that calculating the actual copying cost of public records for each County agency would be unduly burdensome due to a multitude of factors including differentials in compensation among public records officers across County agencies as well as periodic personnel changes within agencies that could affect accurate assessments of actual costs. Pierce County therefore adopts the fee provisions found in RCW 42.56.120 as follows:
a. The cost for photocopies of public records, printed copies of electronic public records, or for the permitted use of any agency equipment to photocopy a public record, is fifteen cents per page.
b. The cost to scan a public record into an electronic format or for the permitted use of agency equipment to scan a record into an electronic format is ten cents per page.
c. The cost for each four electronic files or attachments uploaded to email, cloud-based data storage service, or other means of electronic delivery is five cents.
d. The cost to transmit public records in an electronic format or for the permitted use of agency equipment to send records electronically is ten cents per gigabyte.
e. An agency may charge for the actual cost of any agency provided digital storage media or device (e.g., CD, DVD, thumb drive, etc.), the actual cost of any container or envelope used to mail any copies to a requester, and the actual costs of postage or other delivery charge incurred by the agency.
3. Any costs authorized in this subsection may be combined to the extent that more than one type of charge applies to copies produced in response to a particular request.
4. Any County agency may adopt and impose a statement of actual costs for providing photocopies and or electronic copies of records after providing notice and a public hearing. Any statement of actual costs adopted after notice and a public hearing shall be published by the County agency.
5. As an alternative to any other charge, a County agency may elect to charge a flat fee of up to two dollars for any request when the agency reasonably estimates and documents that the costs would equal or exceed two dollars in charges otherwise authorized under this subsection. For purposes of installment production, no additional flat fee shall be charged for any installment after the first installment. No other additional fees may be charged if this option is exercised.
6. Upon the request of a person seeking copies of public records, a County agency shall provide a summary of the applicable charges before any copies are made. A requester may revise a request to reduce the number of copies to be made and reduce applicable charges.
7. Copy charges should not be imposed for access to or downloading of records that a County agency routinely posts on its public internet website prior to receipt of a request unless the requester asks for copies of such records through other means.
8. In addition to other authorized charges, a customized service charge no greater than the actual cost may be imposed if a request requires use of information technology expertise to either prepare data compilations or provide customized electronic access services when such compilations and customized access services are not used by the agency for other agency purposes. The agency will provide the requester prior notice of any customized service charge and include a description of the specific expertise, a reasonable cost estimate, and an advisement that the requester may amend the request to avoid or reduce the cost of any customized service charge. The agency may require a deposit of up to ten percent of the estimated customized service charge and also produce customized service records on an installment basis.
9. Any County agency may enter into any contract, memorandum of understanding, or other agreement with a requester that provides an alternative fee arrangement to the charges otherwise authorized under this chapter, or in response to a voluminous or frequently occurring request. The terms of such an agreement will supersede any other applicable provisions of this Chapter.
10. Charges Required by Other Statutes. If a different charge for copies or certification is required to be collected by a statute other than the Public Records Act, such as RCW 36.18, RCW 46.52.085 or RCW 10.97.100, the provisions of that statute shall govern.