(Deming) – The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government recently released the results of its audit to determine counties’ compliance with public records requests.
The Inspection of Public Records Act requests were sent to all of the state’s 33 counties.
Foundation of Open Government Executive Director Susan Boe said they asked a citizen to file the public records requests because they didn’t want to influence the results and wanted to better gauge responsiveness, attitudes and practices within the counties.
The requester sought copies of any public records requests logs kept by the county in 2014, 2015 and 2016. If the county did not track such requests, the county official was asked to respond with that information.
Fourteen of the counties (or 42%) delivered the documents on the same or next day after the request. The remainder of the responses were sent two to 45 days after the request.
According to the audit results, Luna County’s records custodian, Assistant County Manager Glory Juarez, responded in 12 days and reported that the county does not track requests.
The Act requires public bodies to permit inspection of public records “immediately or as soon as practicable under the circumstances, but not later than fifteen days after receiving a written request.”
If the inspection is not permitted within three business days of the request, the records custodian is required to explain in writing when the records will be available for inspection or when the public body will respond to the request.
The Inspection of Public Records Act requests were sent to all of the state’s 33 counties.
Foundation of Open Government Executive Director Susan Boe said they asked a citizen to file the public records requests because they didn’t want to influence the results and wanted to better gauge responsiveness, attitudes and practices within the counties.
The requester sought copies of any public records requests logs kept by the county in 2014, 2015 and 2016. If the county did not track such requests, the county official was asked to respond with that information.
Fourteen of the counties (or 42%) delivered the documents on the same or next day after the request. The remainder of the responses were sent two to 45 days after the request.
According to the audit results, Luna County’s records custodian, Assistant County Manager Glory Juarez, responded in 12 days and reported that the county does not track requests.
The Act requires public bodies to permit inspection of public records “immediately or as soon as practicable under the circumstances, but not later than fifteen days after receiving a written request.”
If the inspection is not permitted within three business days of the request, the records custodian is required to explain in writing when the records will be available for inspection or when the public body will respond to the request.
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