Waiting Five Days to See Something Sitting Right There

This blog posting by the TNT's Ian Demsky describes the Town of Ruston's policy of making requestors wait five business days to see public records (a town council agenda in this case) that are readily available.

Here is a provision of the Attorney General's Model Rules on Public Records addressing this very topic:

"An agency can, of course, provide the records sooner than five business days. Providing the 'fullest assistance' [required by RCW 42.56.100] to a requestor would mean providing a readily available record as soon as possible. For example, an agency might routinely prepare a premeeting packet of documents three days in advance of a city council meeting. The packet is readily available so the agency should provide it to a requestor on the same day of the request so he or she can have it for the council meeting."

WAC 44-14-04004(1).