Durkan's Office Slower To Release Public Records, Data Show

SEATTLE, WA — More people are asking for public records from Mayor Jenny Durkan's office, but the administration is taking longer to complete those requests in many instances compared to the previous mayor.

That's according to data released by Durkan's office that show the number of requests filed and closed in 2018, and the same data for 2017 under the previous mayoral administration. The data supports the notion that it's harder to get information from the Durkan administration, whether you're a local news reporter or a citizen.

In 2018, Durkan's office received 222 public records requests, up 45 percent from the 153 received in 2017, a year mostly overseen by Ed Murray. Of the total received in 2018, 54 remained open at the end of the year, including 14 that were still open as of April.

Durkan's office did reduce the average wait time for a records request in 2018 to about 73 days compared to 79 in 2017. That average wait time goes up to almost 81 days, however, if you factor in the 14 requests that were still open as of April. And, Durkan's office closed requests slower in 2018 at a rate of about 2.17 per day compared to a rate of about 3 per day in 2017 under Murray.

Durkan spokesman Mark Prentice had said previously that the average wait time in 2018 was about 63 days compared to about 75 days in 2017. A Durkan spokesperson did not provide a reason for the discrepancy by the time of publication, but we will update this story if we hear back.

"Year-over-year volume of requests has increased by 36 percent, while our staff has not," Prentice wrote in a March email about the mayor's office public records policy.

The oldest request from 2018 just had its first birthday. It was filed on April 30, 2018, by Washington University in St. Louis researcher Bryant Moy. He asked for all emails from the mayor's office between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2018. Moy acknowledged his was an unusual request, so he was willing to accept the records on a rolling basis.

"I’ve submitted many public records request to other cities in the last year. The public records staff in Seattle has been enormously helpful," he told Patch via email.

Here's where records requests stood at the end of 2018:

• 222 requests filed total in 2018
• 40 requests from 2018 were still open at the end of the year
• An additional 14 requests from 2018 were still open as of April 2019
• Average time to complete a request filed and closed in 2018: 56 days
• Average time to complete a request filed in 2018 (excluding 14 open as of April): 73 days
• Average time to complete the 40 requests filed in 2018 but not closed until 2019: 145 days
• Average time for the 14 requests filed in 2018 but not complete as of April: 193 days
• Rate of records requests closed per day in 2018: 2.17

Here where records requests stood at the end of 2017:

• 153 requests filed in 2017
• 27 requests from 2017 still open at the end of the year
• 1 request still open from 2017 as of April 29, 2019 (526 days since it was filed)
• Average time to complete a request filed and closed in 2017: 61 days
• Average time to complete a request filed in 2017: 79 days
• Average time for the 27 requests filed in 2017 but not completed until 2018: 164 days
• Rate of records requests closed per day in 2017: 2.89

As of April 2019, there were 14 records requests open. Here they are ranked by how long they've been open (not including researcher Bryant Moy's request):

284 Days: A sweeping request from a private citizen seeking all records related to an affordable housing project near the Mt. Baker light rail station. This request asks for documents ranging from emails with the developer Vulcan Inc. to plans the city has to "prevent an overconcentration of subsidized housing" in a given neighborhood.

278 Days: A Seattle Patch request for mayor's office emails mentioning the Seattle Times, SCC Insight, Crosscut, The Stranger, The Urbanist, Seattle PI, and the Seattle Bike Blog. This request was still open as of May 6.

246 Days: A Seattle Times request that asks for documents that mention "homeless encampments, clearing and/or sweeping homeless encampments, safe lots, designated camping areas, or the Navigation Team."

215 Days: A request from a KIRO radio talk show host seeking emails between Durkan and her chief of staff from June 26 to July 2, 2018.

181 Days: A Seattle blogger's request for Durkan's calendars "beginning at the time of her hiring by the city for the job of mayor, including metadata."

172 Days: An attorney's request for records related to the implementation of the Rental Registration and Inspection Ordinance.

168 Days: A request asking for records that contain 14 keywords related to Airbnb-type rentals.

167 Days: A request from a private citizen asking for communications between Durkan's staff and two Seattle Times reporters.

158 Days: A Seattle Times reporter's request for records between Durkan's office and Seattle Public Schools about the Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy.

126 Days: A Seattle Times reporter's request for emails sent to or from the email address JAD@seattle.gov (JAD stands for Jenny A. Durkan, it's also what her staff uses as shorthand for her name).

125 Days: A Seattle Patch request for emails sent to and from the email address of Durkan's deputy mayors, chief of staff, and chief spokesman between Nov. 29 and Dec. 5, 2018. This request was not filled as of May 6.

125 Days: A Crosscut reporter's request for emails from Deputy Mayor David Moseley that mention public affairs consultant Anne Fennessy or her firm, Cocker-Fennessy.

123 Days: A KING 5 request for a slew of records related to former police chief candidate Cameron McLay.

Correction: An earlier version of this story inaccurately described a records request. A 278-day-old Patch request for records about local media outlets was for emails that mention the outlets, not emails between the mayor's office and those outlets.