Responding to citizens’ right to know will cost the city of Langley more money next year, including adding a new staff position to handle public information requests. Such requests have also added to higher rates for the city’s liability insurance.
The council is expected to review and vote on the city’s 2019 operating budget at its regular meeting, 5:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 17. The preliminary budget totals $8.9 million. It includes new revenue from increased utility fees needed for infrastructure improvements in water, sewer, and storm water.
At the Dec. 3 meeting, Debbie Mahler, finance director and clerk, explained the need to hire a records management specialist to keep in compliance with state law. The specialist would establish and maintain the city’s paper and electronic public records, fulfill public disclosure requests and provide other clerical and administrative support, she said.
The new position adds up to about $30,000 a year, some of which may be covered from a State Archives grant. Starting salary for the 30-hour-a-week records management/deputy clerk position is advertised at $20 to $23.33 per hour.
Some city council members expressed dismay at the amount of money needed to respond to such requests, which they characterized as always coming from the same group of individuals.
“It just seems we’re wasting money here that we don’t need to be wasting,” Councilman Bruce Allen commented.
Mayor Tim Callison responded that governments are responsible for answering public records requests, adding that “people have a right to ask.”
In an email , Mahler said city hall has been overwhelmed responding to public records requests that generally come in two forms — consistently from the same handful of people and sporadically from the public at large.
“We have many very simple requests by mostly residents for one or two documents here and there,” she said. “And then we have a couple frequent fliers who ask for every document, phone message, email, letter, billing, recording, etc. that exists on a certain subject.”
During controversies, such as this summer’s inquiry into the behavior of former police chief David Marks and last year’s debate over sanctuary city status, “a huge influx of requests” occurs, Mahler said.
“There are two or three different individuals who often file large, vague, or difficult requests and then sue, or threaten to sue, if they don’t get the documents they ask for, or if they think we take too long,” she said.
“Most requests are simple, but sometimes the larger ones require checking every computer and user in the city, in addition to minutes, agendas, contracts, and more,” she explained. “Those types of requests can be extremely time consuming and labor intensive.”
State law allows the city to charge for paper copies, 15 cents per page, and scanned documents, 10-cents per page, Mahler said, but that doesn’t recoup the staff time needed to search and produce the records.
Property and liability insurance has soared $36,400 in the last three years. Public record requests also factor into that added expense, explained Mahler who’s been balancing Langley’s budgets for 26 years.
“Most of the increase is based on claims history,” Mahler said. “The biggest claims we have had in the last few years were lawsuits filed by two different people based on their public records requests. Our insurance pool is obligated to pay for our legal costs to defend the suits.”
A lawsuit over the firing of a police officer a few years ago, which the city won on summary judgment, still meant the city had to pay “lots in legal costs,” she said.
