A. Providing "Fullest Assistance." Pierce County and each of its agencies is charged by statute with adopting rules which provide for how it will "provide full access to public records," "protect records from damage or disorganization," "prevent excessive interference with other essential functions of the agency," provide "fullest assistance" to requesters, and provide the "most timely possible action" on public records requests. The public records officer or designee will process requests in the order allowing the most requests to be processed in the most efficient manner. Public records shall be made available without disrupting essential functions of the offices.

B. Acknowledging Receipt of Request. Within five business days of receipt of the request, the public records officer will do one or more of the following:

C. Consequences of Failure to Respond. If the County or its applicable agency does not respond in writing within five business days of receipt of the request for disclosure, the requester should contact the public records officer to determine the reason for the failure to respond.

D. Protecting Rights of Others. In the event that the requested records contain information that may affect rights of others and may be exempt from disclosure, the public records officer or designee may, prior to providing the records, give notice to such others whose rights may be affected by the disclosure. Such notice should be given so as to make it possible for those other persons to contact the requester and ask him or her to revise the request or, if necessary, to seek an order from a court to prevent or limit the disclosure. The notice to the affected persons will include a copy of the request.

E. Records Exempt or Prohibited from Disclosure. Some records are exempt from or are prohibited from disclosure by law, in whole or in part. If Pierce County or its applicable agency believes that a record is exempt from or prohibited from disclosure and should be withheld, the public records officer or designee will state the specific exemption or prohibition under which the record or a portion of the record is being withheld. If only a portion of a record is exempt or prohibited from disclosure but the remainder is not exempt or prohibited, the public records officer will redact the exempt or prohibited portions, provide the nonexempt portions, and indicate to the requester why portions of the record are being redacted.

F. Inspection of Records.

G. Providing Copies of Records. After inspection is complete, the public records officer or designee shall make any requested copies or arrange for copying upon a deposit of at least 10 percent of the estimated cost of copying. A requester who seeks to pick up copies by appearing in person at a County agency must make prior contact with the designated public records officer and arrange for a specific time to pick up the records.

H. Providing Records in Installments. When the request is for a large number of records, the public records officer or designee will provide access for inspection and copying in installments, if he or she reasonably determines that it would be practical to provide the records in that way. If, within 30 days, the requester fails to inspect the entire set of records or one or more of the installments after being made available, or to pay the balance of the cost of copying of records copied or those copied in an installment, the public records officer or designee may stop searching for and/or compiling any remaining records and close the request. If a requester fails to retrieve records made available through a County web portal or file transfer protocol service after receiving notice of the availability of the records, the County agency may stop providing further installments of records and close out the request.

I. Completion of Inspection. When the inspection of the requested records is complete and all requested copies are provided, the public records officer or designee will indicate that Pierce County or its applicable agency has completed a diligent search for the requested records and made any located non-exempt records available for inspection.

J. Closing Withdrawn or Abandoned Request. When the requester either withdraws the request or fails to fulfill his or her obligations to inspect the records, retrieve the records, or pay the deposit or any installment payment due for the requested copies, the public records officer may close the request. The public records officer may attempt to contact the requester and advise that Pierce County or its applicable agency has closed the request. Such an advisement is not necessary when a requester has been previously notified that inaction will result in closing of the request. Subsequent copies requested may not be made until the requester has paid any unpaid bill for copying services requested by the requester, whether or not the copies previously made have been retained for the requester or destroyed when the previous bill remained unpaid for more than 30 days after notice mailed to the requester.

K. Later Discovered Documents. If, after Pierce County or its applicable agency has informed the requester that it has provided all available records, Pierce County or its applicable agency becomes aware of additional responsive documents existing at the time of the request, it will promptly inform the requester of the additional documents and provide them on an expedited basis.

L. Protection of Records and Functions.