Skagit County officials demonstrated a new public disclosure request management system and told the Board of County Commissioners the county expects to publish a public portal in early February.

The county’s project manager, Jess Boffe, and Pamela Herman, Skagit County’s public records officer, demonstrated NextRequest by CivicsPlus during the commissioners’ Jan. 27 meeting and said the tool will centralize requests, add automatic reminders, produce reporting for compliance, and create searchable online access to records the county opts to make public.

Boffe said the county chose the software to improve efficiency for staff and transparency for the public. “One of the key features you’ll see in our demo today is how user friendly it is,” Boffe said. She described automated workflows that can route requests to the correct department and tracking tools that measure processing times.

Herman, who led the software demonstration, showed the commissioners the public-facing portal, the staff workflow view, and the built-in redaction tools. On the public side, requesters can search public requests, submit new requests via a guest account or a registered profile, and receive status updates by email. On the staff side, Herman showed overdue indicators, assignment lists and an action log that records redactions and exemptions by RCW.

Herman said the county began evaluating NextRequest in part because the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) requires counties to report certain public-records costs; she said the JLARC reporting matrix must be completed when annual public-records processing costs exceed $100,000. Herman also said the county handled about 1,045 public-records requests in 2024; the sheriff’s office handled about 2,000 requests in 2024 and will be moved into the same NextRequest system.

Herman described the redaction workflow as “assisted but manual.” The system highlights probable Social Security numbers or dates of birth and allows staff to mark text for redaction and record the exemption (by RCW) that justifies withholding. Herman said the tool automatically builds an index of redactions and the rationale for each entry, which she said will reduce time spent preparing responses.

When asked about anonymous requesters, Herman said users may submit as a guest; the portal hides the requester’s name from public-facing search results while sending responses to the requester's email address. Boffe said the county will post the portal at SkagitCounty.net on the records page. The presenters said the county intends to go live in early February after legal signs off on required language and after completing internal dry runs with departments.

Commissioners expressed support for the project’s accountability features. Commissioner Browning said she liked “the accountability piece” and the improved ability to see a request’s status without searching multiple email threads. No formal vote was required during the presentation.

Next steps: staff will finish configuration, obtain legal approval of required language, complete dry-run testing with departments and announce the public launch once the system is enabled.