MLIRD board speeds up records requests

MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District Board of Directors is speeding up records requests for board members and the general public.

Board chairman Mick Hansen proposed two separate motions at this week's meeting, which were both approved.

Hansen's first motion now allows board members to have their records request met in 24 hours.

Their requests can be verbal, Hansen said.

The second motion for the general public's records requests means  district staff must meet a request in five days or explain to the board why it wasn't done in that time frame, he said.

A public agency has five days to respond to a records request by either providing the record, acknowledge it received the request and provide an estimate of when it will meet it, or deny the request, according to the state Open Records Act.

Hansen and board director Rich Archer voted in favor of the motion concerning board members' records requests. Board director Ron Covey voted against the motion.

The motion concerning the general public's records requests was approved unanimously.

Covey asked Hansen if he had read the board's governance policy concerning board members' records requests and how it addresses the issue.

The board's governance policy states a board member may achieve access to district public records by completing the district's request form.

Hansen said he's read through most of it, but hadn't read it all.

"We're taking care of it right here and now," he said. "When a board member asks for something, I don't think we should have to put it in writing or take a week to get it."

Covey said he was just saying there are procedures in the board's governance policy and unless they were addressed, Hansen wasn't following the rules he should be following.

"Anything can be changed," Hansen said.

Covey said he just asked if Hansen was aware of it.

Concerning the general public's requests, Hansen said most requests can be  done in five days.

If a request takes longer than five days, he asked the staff come to the board and let them know that a request was made that takes longer than five days, Hansen said.

"But on the other hand, we ask it come to the board and get the approval of the board at that period in time," Hansen said.

Columbia Basin Herald Managing Editor Bill Stevenson asked if bringing the request back to the board put it past the five-day window.

Hansen said no, they just want to know if it couldn't be done in five days.