Public Records Request

Request for records and questions about the State Public Records Act shall be referred to the CMS Executive Office:

Lorna Camacho
Senior Administration Assistant
Contract Management Services
345 6th Street, Ste. 200
P.O. Box 4640
Bremerton, WA 98312
(360) 616-7201 / (360) 616-2811 Fax
lcamacho@contractmgmt.org

Please use the Public Record Request Form.

The Public Records Law require that requests for access to records be responded to within five (5) business days by either providing the records or providing an estimate of time when the records will be available.

Contract Management Services, as a division of the Housing Authority of the City of Bremerton (BHA), is required by the Washington State Public Disclosure Act RCW 42.56 to allow the general public to inspect and/or copy certain documents during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., excluding holidays. A fee for providing copies may be charged.

Inspection will be denied and the records withdrawn by the Public Records Officer if the requestor, when reviewing records, acts in a manner which will damage or substantially disorganize the records or interfere with other essential functions of the Bremerton Housing Authority.

If a requestor has not made arrangements to review or claim records within thirty (30) days of notice that records are available, or fails to make payment, the Public Records Officer may close the request.

When the request is for a large number of records, the public records officer or designee will provide access for inspection and copying in installments, if he or she reasonably determines that it would be practical to provide the records in that way. If, within fifteen (15) days, the requestor fails to arrange for the inspection of the entire set of records or one or more of the installments, the public records officer or designee may stop searching for the remaining records and close the request.

If, after the BHA has informed the requestor that it has provided all available records, the BHA becomes aware of additional responsive documents existing at the time of the request, it will promptly inform the requestor of the additional documents and provide them on an expedited basis.

In general, most of the information processed and retained by BHA such as contracts, solicitations, resolutions, board meeting minutes, correspondence, and policies fall into the category of “public” information and thus must be disclosed under the law. Certain information, however, is exempt from public disclosure pursuant to RCW 42.56, including but not limited to the following:

1. Personal information in files maintained for employees, appointees, volunteers, or elected officials and such other personal information which would constitute an invasion of privacy, including, but not limited to, residential addresses and telephone numbers, employment applications, and employment tests.

2. Preliminary drafts, notes, recommendations and departmental memoranda in which opinions are expressed or policies formulated or recommended in connection with any BHA action, except when publicly cited.

3. Contents of any real estate appraisals made for or by the agency relative to the acquisition or sale of property by the agency are exempt until three (3) years after the date of the appraisal or until sale is abandoned or property sold.

4. Valuable designs, drawings, research data, etc., obtained within five (5) years of the request for disclosure, when disclosing would provide private gain and public loss.

5. Records relevant to a controversy to which the agency is a party, but which records would not be available to another party under the rules of pretrial discovery for causes pending in the superior courts are exempt from disclosure under this chapter.

Applicable Fees:
· Per page provided $0.15/page for request over 50 pages
· Audio/Video Tapes $10.00
· Computer Disks $10.00
· Actual costs for postage and delivery can be included as well as cost of envelopes
· Requestor will be charged if an outside source is used for making duplicates of records such as photographs or blueprints.

Payments by cash, check or money order, are made payable to the Bremerton Housing Authority.