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New state board will hear public records disputes

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August 25th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A new state board charged with enforcing Iowa’s public records and meetings laws will also have to settle disputes over records requests. The Des Moines Register reports the new board that was created July 1 has already received about 50 complaints. The complaints come both from public records advocates and from government agencies who say they are facing unreasonable requests.

For instance, a county hospital administrator in Denison says he has received more than 300 information requests from Richard Knowles in the past 16 months. And Ottumwa city officials say staff members sometimes spend more than 75 percent of their day fulfilling records requests.