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Committee seeks clarity on records retention, stakeholder lists and public access to plan materials
Summary
Committee members pressed staff about how long stakeholder and engagement records will be retained, whether those records will be publicly accessible, and how retention aligns with statutory requirements. Staff said the county keeps an archive beyond statutory minimums and recommended consulting county counsel for exact retention timelines.
Committee members asked staff to clarify how long engagement materials — including stakeholder lists, interview notes and survey responses — will be retained and whether those records will be readily available to the public in the future.
Planning staff said the department maintains an archive that includes engagement memos, survey responses and interview records and that they generally keep those materials beyond minimum statutory requirements to preserve institutional memory for future five-year reviews of the master plan. A county staff member noted that records-retention timeframes are governed by state law and county charter and advised the committee to consult the county counselor for the precise statutory retention schedule.
Why it matters: The committee said retained records help future decision-makers understand who was asked and why certain plan language or map decisions were made. Members flagged an interest in ensuring that future councils can review who participated in the outreach as a matter of public record.
Direct statements from the meeting included staff assurances that engagement records are public records and can be produced upon request under the sunshine/open-records process; staff cautioned that public records requests should be specific and that some requests may require staff time or fees for large data productions. Staff also said they intend to keep a complete internal archive of materials for historical reference through the lifetime of the plan.
Staff next steps: Staff told the committee it will - retain engagement materials in its archive beyond statutorily required minimums, and - consult county counsel to confirm exact statutory retention timeframes and to draft an appropriate retention note (or appendix reference) for the plan that explains where records will be held and how the public can request them.
Committee members asked that the appendix or plan note make clear that the records are public and that staff will assist requesters with refining a records request to avoid unnecessary fees.
