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Chickasaw supervisors weigh centralizing open-records requests after recent court decision
Summary
Supervisors discussed a recent Iowa Court of Appeals decision and the county's obligation to respond when any employee receives an open-records request, and agreed to explore a centralized tracking system to ensure timely legal compliance and avoid duplicate requests and missed responses.
County supervisors on June 8 discussed concerns about a recent Iowa Court of Appeals ruling that, as discussed in the meeting, can expand which county employees are obligated to respond to open-records requests.
"The court of appeals basically said... anyone who receives an open records request is satisfactory and only takes one request," Supervisor Scott told the board, summarizing the decision's apparent effect. Supervisors and staff said the decision could mean requests routed to individual departments must still be handled promptly and that the county should ensure requests are tracked centrally.
Board members described how other counties centralize requests through a county attorney's office or a designated records custodian to screen requests, assign case numbers, narrow scope when appropriate, and track response deadlines. Staff suggested compiling a department-level spreadsheet of requests and responses and bringing the matter to department heads for a later, more detailed discussion.
Supervisors also noted legislative changes that allow courts to limit repetitive requesters; however, they said that work remains to define internal processes so the county can respond within statutory timelines and avoid sanctions.
Next steps: include open-records procedure discussion during department meetings, consider centralizing requests with the county attorney's office or a designated custodian, and develop a tracking approach for requests and responses.
