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Board upholds partial FOIA denial after discussion of processing methods
Summary
During review of FOIA appeal 25-195, commissioners discussed the volume of records and whether an automated SQL script could reduce manual redaction hours; the board accepted the appeal as new, then voted to uphold the partial denial and to accept the processing-fee appeal in separate roll calls.
Delta County commissioners reviewed FOIA appeal 25-195 and ultimately upheld the partial denial after hearing from the county prosecutor and staff about the records-processing burden.
A commissioner raised concerns about the scale of the search task, noting an estimated 2,400 case files would require review. The commissioner suggested using the county’s SQL relational database to run a scripted query that could help identify and redact relevant records more efficiently; he said a vendor (Carpel) quoted approximately $1,000 to write such a script and indicated the county could obtain an existing script from another prosecutor’s office if available.
County staff responded that contractual or technical limitations might affect running additional scripts directly against the database and that some solutions would require vendor support. The board debated whether the FOIA appeal under consideration had been accepted previously; members clarified procedural status and then voted.
By motions and roll-call votes, the board accepted the FOIA appeal for consideration and then voted to uphold the partial denial. A separate roll-call addressed the processing-fee appeal, which the board also accepted. Commissioners asked staff to follow the proper record-processing steps and to return with any clarifying documentation as needed.
No change to the underlying FOIA determination was made in open session beyond the decision to uphold the partial denial; the board’s votes were procedural and recorded as required.
