(1) Within five business days of receiving a Public Records Act request, the board will assign the request a tracking number and log it. The public records officer or designee will evaluate the request according to the nature of the request, clarity, volume, and availability of requested records.

(2) Following the initial evaluation of the request, and within five business days of receipt of the request, the public records officer or designee will do one or more of the following:

(a) Make the records available for inspection or copying including:

(i) Providing an internet address and link on the website to specific records requested if copies are available on the board's website;

(ii) Sending copies to the requestor, if requested and where a payment or a deposit has been made, if any, or other terms of payment are agreed upon and have been satisfied.

(b) Acknowledge receipt of the request and provide a reasonable estimate of when records or an installment of records will be available. The public records officer or designee may revise the estimate.

(c) Acknowledge receipt of the request and ask the requestor to provide clarification for all or part of a request that is unclear, and provide, to the greatest extent possible, a reasonable estimate of time the board will need to respond to the unclear request or unclear part of a request if it is not clarified.

(i) Clarification may be requested and provided by phone and memorialized in writing, or by email or letter;

(ii) If the requestor fails to respond to a request for clarification within 30 calendar days and the entire request is unclear, the board need not respond to it. The board will only respond to those portions of a request that are clear.

(d) Deny the request.

(3) The board may request additional time to respond to a request because of the need to clarify the request, locate and assemble the records requested, notify third persons or agencies affected by the request, or determine whether any of the information requested is exempt and that a denial should be made as to all or part of the request.

(4) The board will provide an estimate of the time required to respond to a request, and may provide an estimate of copying costs specific to a request seeking an estimate of cost. If the requestor believes the amount of time or estimated costs are not reasonable, the requestor may petition the board for review as outlined in WAC 456-12-115(2).