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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 | Vol. 91, No. 22 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
South Whidbey schools chief looks to improve district’s public records process By JUSTIN BURNETT South Whidbey Record
Ben Watanabe / The Record
City leaders and property owners hammered out a land swap this week that will allow the Kleiners to move forward with their renovation plans. The deal ends a development hiccup that’s lasted for years.
Dog House deal reached Land swap could help preserve Langley icon
By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record The Dog House Tavern and Langley took their first step forward together toward reopening the historic building on First Street with the approval of a land exchange Monday night. On the recommendation of the director of Community Planning and Mayor Fred McCarthy, the Langley City Council gave its unanimous support at the county’s regular meeting to accept the property swap. Janice and Charlie Kleiner, the tavern’s owners since 2010, requested the exchange so they could own the property under the stairs and deck previously on an easement to get into the restaurant and upstairs residence. “We’re thankful for your support,” Janice Kleiner said during the meeting. The Kleiners live in Issaquah and made the trip to Langley for the decision, which was not originally expected to come down at that meeting.
“We’re excited to get it started.” the land closest to the water is Based on Macaulay and perceived as more valuable than Associates appraiser Jim land under the stairs and deck, Dodge’s review of the property, which is what the tavern owners the exchange is for 620 square would receive. “Despite the fact that there feet of land under the stairs and deck of the historic Langley aren’t any comparable sales, I building. Langley would receive feel comfortable that the council, if they choose 175 square feet to accept this, from the prop“We’re excited to get it can be assured er ty’s nor th that it’s a reaside, essentially started.” adding area to sonable soluJanice Kleiner, Seawall Park. Dog House Tavern owner tion,” Director “I always of Community thought that P l a n n i n g was a good Michael Davolio approach,” said Councilman Jim said in a phone interview Sundberg. He also said the prop- Monday before the city council erty the city will get adds access meeting. Langley will not get its own to Seawall Park and Langley’s long-term vision to connect the appraisal. Davolio said he figpark to the marina of South ured that the amount the city Whidbey Harbor, currently could get would not be worth blocked by private property and the expense of paying for the the water. appraiser. The city’s main concern was “We could get our own that it cannot give away public appraisal done, but it’s my opinassets, including property. The SEE DOG HOUSE, A11 challenge in the proposal is that
Recognizing inadequacies in its ability to quickly and easily satisfy some public information requests, South Whidbey’s schools top official is considering a slew of improvements to streamline the district’s records producing process. At the top of the list is the creation of a dedicated public records officer, and training on the state’s Open Public Record Act and its requirements. Also needed is equipment or infrastructure that would help officials manage requests more efficiently, especially those seeking digital documents. “First of all, we need a better system in place,” said Jo Moccia, South Whidbey School District superintendent. “But, we also need someone trained so I’m not doing it.” Moccia currently handles most records requests. It’s a time-consuming job that, in most cases, might be better fitted for an employee who is not tasked with running a school district, she said. And the job has become more demanding in recent months. In December, the district began including a document in online meeting agendas that identifies people seeking public documents, the details of what they asked for and an estimation of the time and financial resources it took to satisfy the request. The policy has sparked criticism from open government advocates and parents alike, and at least one has taken legal action against the district. It’s also resulted in additional information requests, one of which highlighted the district’s difficulty in searching for and producing digital documents. On Jan. 21, the South Whidbey Record asked for emails between the school board and Moccia over a period of one year that mentioned three topics: the policy, one parent and the newspaper itself. District officials initially responded by saying the request drummed up 20,000 records and that it would take a month to complete. Following a clarification, which was largely satisfied by repeating the original request, Moccia wrote that she had personally spent three
hours and an IT employee over eight hours to narrow down the figure to 19,000 documents. Following another clarification, which also largely restated the original request, the number was whittled down to just 140 pages. T h e records were produced on Feb. 6, 14 days after the information request was submitted, and, according to the district’s new online identification form, Moccia required more than 15 hours of staff time and cost the district over $600 to satisfy.
Records challenges South Whidbey uses a Googlebased email system. It stores all of the district’s electronic correspondence well, but lacks the ability to effectively and easily search for and identify specific documents, Moccia said. The district also has an entire room full of paper records, many that date back decades, and even more files are stored in alternate locations. While binders are clearly labeled, searching for specific documents can be a difficult and timeconsuming task. Added to that, requesters often accompany their requests with descriptors like “all records.” They’re often searching for specific information in a limited time period, but state law doesn’t allow district officials to make such distinctions on their own. If someone asks for all records, then it’s obligated by law to produce the records. Some have questioned why the district doesn’t just digitize all its documents. In a perfect world, said Moccia, she’d hire someone to do just that, but given the sheer volume of records it would be a monumental and expensive task. “There’s some people who think SEE RECORDS, A11