Person County reviews public-records policy after spike in complex requests; board to revisit fee and tracking rules

Person County staff on April 21 briefed commissioners on the county’s public‑records request policy and its implementation of the NextRequest portal, describing increased request volume and asking the board to consider refinements to how staff time and special-service charges are tracked.

Brian Hart explained the county adopted a public‑records policy on Feb. 5, 2024 and revised it in September 2024 to incorporate NextRequest, which went live Sept. 30, 2024. Hart said notable policy features include assigning departmental records custodians, requiring department liaisons to assist with collection and redaction, and applying a special-service charge when extensive IT or clerical assistance is needed — defined in policy as work requiring more than four hours of IT or more than four hours of clerical/supervisory time.

Hart and IT staff described operational challenges. Large or broad keyword searches can return hundreds of thousands of items; staff must identify responsive records and redact exempt content such as personnel information, HIPAA‑protected material or infrastructure details. Hart said these review and redaction duties create staff workload and that staff time spent preparing a response is generally not recoverable under guidance he cited; the county can recover material costs and, in some situations, charges for “excessive” clerical or IT time. He provided usage numbers: a report through March 9 showed 102 requests, 95 closed and seven open; an updated snapshot to April 13 noted 33 requests with 23 closed and 10 open (staff said the difference reflects different reporting windows and the NextRequest export used).

Commissioners raised concerns about staff burden, transparency and whether requesters’ identities and responses should be posted publicly. County Manager Catherine Kathy and IT staff said NextRequest can make request-and-response records publicly accessible; once posted, the requester’s contact information and the county’s response become public records unless a requester declines to supply contact information. Commissioner Wilburn asked for itemized reporting of attorney time spent reviewing or redacting records; the county attorney said he could provide itemized invoices if the board requested.

Several commissioners asked staff to research peer jurisdictions’ policies, especially Cleveland County, and to return with recommendations on whether to adjust the four‑hour threshold, broaden the policy to itemize supervisory/clerical time, and how to capture and publish request metrics. County staff said they would continue to emphasize logging time spent on requests, pursue a conversation with Cleveland County clerks, and return to the board at its second May meeting with potential policy edits and an itemized attorney-cost summary.