During the July 20 Battle Ground City Council meeting, Mayor Eric Overholser discussed the staff time spent responding to public reaction following several controversial proclamations.
He stated: “The narrative painted is a proclamation costs the city money. And in all reality, it's the reaction from the public to the proclamation, and the tactics that are used by individuals to flood our staff and inundate them to respond to 1,400 emails and nine exhaustive public records requests — which, again, is all within their rights — but it's a tactic used to bog down our system.”
One word in that statement continues to bother me: tactics.
That word implies intent. It suggests that citizens deliberately sought to burden city hall rather than simply exercise rights guaranteed under Washington's Public Records Act.
My question is straightforward: What evidence supports that conclusion?
Public records requests reveal what information citizens seek — not why they seek it. Unless someone openly stated that their purpose was to overwhelm the city, I don't understand how anyone can confidently attribute that motive.
There is another explanation that seems far more ordinary.
The city chose to issue proclamations that generated significant public interest and controversy. When government actions become controversial, people respond. They attend meetings. They send emails. They ask questions. They request records to understand how decisions were made.
That is not unusual. It is civic participation.
Mayor Overholser himself acknowledged that submitting public records requests is "within their rights." I appreciate that recognition. But describing those same lawful actions as "tactics" changes the conversation. It shifts attention away from the government's decisions and toward the citizens who exercised their legal right to seek information.
If there is evidence that requests were coordinated specifically to obstruct city operations, then the public should know what that evidence is.
If there is no such evidence, then perhaps we should be careful about assigning motives to citizens who are simply participating in their local government.
Transparency is not a tactic.
Accountability is not a tactic.
Public oversight is not a tactic.
They are the foundation of good government.
Liz Shaw
Battle Ground
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