I wish I could say I have faith in the Yamhill County’s District Attorney’s Office. But, at this current moment, I am again disappointed.
To start this story off, imagine this: I, annoyingly, submitted multiple records requests to three different agencies in Yamhill County: The City Of McMinnville, the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office, and the Yamhill County District Attorney’s office. A perfectly normal thing, especially when looking for information about a documented issue from a public body. (Think about needing city council emails that pertain to zoning issues on a property you own, or maybe you need a police report on a car accident, etc.)
I received prompt response and acknowledgment of the requests, per ORS standard, from two out of three of the public bodies. Wanna guess which place ignored the request?
Now, there are a lot of exceptions and rules to the public record laws. But acknowledging receipt of a request within five-days is a pretty easy one to fulfill. And to that end, I confirmed the submitted request was sent to the correct county email address with the office twice, checked in daily after the five-day standard, and still, no progress, acknowledgment, or reply to the request.
According to the DA’s office staff, the Deputy DA is at a conference right now and won’t be back until Monday. That particular DDA, whom I talked with earlier this week, is said to be in charge of all record requests. Understandably, staffing concerns are probably an issue. However, I spoke with that particular DDA earlier this week and even mentioned the request and explained why I was making the request. But, still no acknowledgment, no reply, no progress.
Why is this acceptable? If someone is in need of public documents, to wit they are entitled, is an unreasonable delay beyond the legal standard a denial of justice? Or perhaps just a miscarriage? If the sacred oath to uphold and honor the laws of the state is not upheld by the very lawyers that are entrusted with ensuring the continuity of the courts in our county, can the justice, or judgment, these public officials dispense be trusted at all? I don’t know.
But, hey, maybe the office has a good reason for the lack of acknowledgment and the delay in meeting Oregon Public Record Request standards. Maybe, just maybe, I need to trust in the attorneys that represent this district of Yamhill. In fact, I bet if I just put enough thoughts and prayers out there I’ll hear back from them next week. And when I do, I’ll give an update.
-Andrew Brunello
Update: As of 6:43 PM on April 14th, 2025, the YCDA’s office responded seeking clarification of the scope of the request. It seems the thoughts and prayers worked!