To provide clearer guidance to city staff and public records requesters, the Langley City Council adopted a new policy last week.

As Deputy Clerk Kristen Abraham later explained in an email, the most significant change affecting requesters is a new deadline that has been set for abandoned requests. If the requester does not respond within 30 days to the city’s response, staff will consider the request abandoned.

“This policy is part of a greater effort to put more details into policies and procedures instead of unnecessarily adding more to our code, which incurs costs every time we need to make a change,” Abraham said.

The new policy will be posted on the city’s website, langleywa.org, under public records requests.