Public Records Officer

## Description POSITION SUMMARY: The Public Records Officer reports to the Director of Finance and serves as Skagit Transit’s lead for public records, records retention, and records governance. This position administers the Agency’s Public Records Act program in compliance with RCW 42.56, RCW 40.14, state retention schedules, and Agency policy by coordinating records requests, managing records preservation and disclosure processes, reviewing records for exemptions and redactions, and maintaining auditable compliance records. The role provides guidance to leadership on disclosure obligations, records governance, compliance risk, and policy implementation; exercises independent judgment on complex matters; and collaborates with legal counsel as needed. The Public Records Officer promotes transparency, accountability, public trust, and consistent agency-wide records management practices in support of Skagit Transit’s mission and values. **ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:** - Serve as Skagit Transit’s designated Public Records Officer, responsible for agency-wide Public Records Act compliance, disclosure operations, and auditable PRA documentation. - Administer public records requests and records management processes, ensuring compliance with statutory timelines, retention requirements, and agency governance standards. - Interpret and apply applicable public disclosure, retention, confidentiality, and exemption requirements to public records requests and related records issues. - Analyze requested materials for responsiveness; review responsive records for exempt or confidential information; apply legally defensible redactions; and prepare exemption logs or other supporting documentation. - Exercise independent judgment in determining the applicability of exemptions, redactions, third-party notice, installment production, and disclosure risk, with guidance from legal counsel as needed. - Communicate with requestors in a clear, timely, respectful, and customer-focused manner, including acknowledgments, clarifications, installment deliveries, cost estimates, and closure notices. - Prepare and distribute required correspondence, including third-party notices, commercial use declarations, records hold notices, search affidavits, exemption explanations, and related PRA documentation. - Maintain the public records tracking system to ensure timely response, accurate workload monitoring, defensible documentation, and continuous improvement of PRA processes. - Track legal holds and coordinates with departments, executive leadership, and legal counsel to preserve records required for litigation, investigations, audits, or anticipated claims. - Stay informed on legislative changes, case law, Attorney General guidance, and best practices affecting public disclosure; provide practical updates and guidance to Skagit Transit staff. - Lead and administer Skagit Transit’s records retention program, ensuring compliance with Washington State Archives retention schedules and lawful records destruction requirements. - Coordinate with departments to ensure proper creation, storage, classification, retrieval, and destruction of agency records. - Identify and safeguard “essential records” needed for continuity of operations and long-term preservation. - Develop and maintain procedures for logically organized searchable, user-friendly recordkeeping systems. - Develop and implement agency-wide records policy, governance standards, standard operating procedures, and quality controls for consistent records creation, maintenance, retrieval, retention, archiving, and disposition. - Promote consistent records practices that support safety, service excellence, fiscal responsibility, innovation, sustainability, integrity, and teamwork across departments. · Work closely with IT to manage retention, retrieval, preservation, and lawful disposition of electronic records, including email, Microsoft 365 content, device records, shared drives, metadata, and other agency system…