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Issaquah council receives Public Records and OPMA training; staff urges caution on texts and social posts
Summary
City attorney Rachel Bender Turpin and City Clerk Tisha Gizer told the Issaquah City Council that public records law can reach texts and social media posts tied to city business, that the city archives roughly 80 million emails and is now capturing council text messages, and warned of civil penalties and heavy redaction workloads for complex requests.
City attorney Rachel Bender Turpin and City Clerk Tisha Gizer gave the Issaquah City Council a detailed briefing May 4 on the Public Records Act and the Open Public Meetings Act, with a special emphasis on social media, texts and electronic records.
Turpin summarized the legal standard: records “relating to the conduct of government” are broadly defined and may include emails, texts, images and social posts. She advised officials to assume substantive communications about city…
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