(a) No specific language is required to make a request for public records. However, the requester must at least identify the records requested with sufficient clarity to allow the office to identify, retrieve, and review the records. If the requester makes an ambiguous or overly broad request or has difficulty in making a request for public records, the request may be denied but the denial shall provide the requester an opportunity to revise the request by informing the requester of the manner in which records are maintained by the office and accessed in the ordinary course of the office.
(b) The requester does not have to put in a records request in writing, and does not have to provide his or her identity or the intended use of the requested public record. However, the law does permit the office to ask for a written request, the requester’s identity, and/or the intended use of the information requested, but only (1) If a written request or disclosure of identity or intended use would benefit the requester by enhancing the officer’s ability to identify, locate, or deliver the public records that have been requested; and (2) After telling the requester that a written request is not required and that the requester may decline to reveal the requester’s identity or intended use.
(c) In processing the request, the office does not have an obligation to create new records or perform new analysis of existing information. An electronic record is deemed to exist so long as a computer is already programmed to produce the records through simple sorting, filtering, or querying.
(Ord. 2011-04. Passed 5-2-11.)