Surge in FOIA requests prompts county policy discussion
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MORGANTOWN - "The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments of government they have created."
Those two sentences form the core of West Virginia Code Chapter 29B.
Entitled "Freedom of Information," 29B is for public bodies in the state of West Virginia what the Freedom of Information Act of 1967 is for federal agencies.
While the name and requirements vary by state – Sunshine Law, Open Records Act, Right to Know Act, etc. - the stated purpose is the same; to ensure government remains accountable to the people by keeping records and writings accessible to the public.
And the people want to know.
According to the Office of Information Policy within the U.S. Department of Justice, federal records requests topped 1.7 million in fiscal year 2025. That number represents a nearly 14% jump over FY '24 and marked the fifth consecutive year of record-setting requests.
But the surge in records requests isn't confined to the federal level.
The Monongalia County Commission is in the process of formalizing a FOIA policy for the county in the face of rising demand.
"We've done 774 FOIAs since January," Monongalia County Sheriff's Department FOIA and Grants Coordinator Vance Lipscomb told the commission on Oct. 28. "So, I anticipate we'll probably eclipse the 1,000 mark this year. I can get 100 in a month, easily. I'm getting them 40 to 60 at a clip some days. Today was a light day. I only had eight."
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Bader Giggenbach pointed out that the numbers presented by Lipscomb represents one county department and doesn't even include requests to the tax office, which also falls under the MCSD.
"The dog warden, the health department, the prosecutor's office, the circuit clerk's office. It seems like in just the short period that I've been involved that it's growing almost exponentially," Giggenbach said. "Each time we analyze the request we're being careful to honor the public policy behind the act, the FOIA Act, which is the public's need to know. That's very important."
Unlike the federal government, which has records departments to take on the influx of inquiries, counties and municipalities have limited staff to respond.
Per state code, the records custodian "shall as soon as is practicable but within a maximum of five days not including Saturdays, Sundays or legal holidays" either furnish copies of the requested information; advise the person making the request of the time and place at which he or she may inspect the materials; or deny the request with stated reasoning for the denial.
Giggenbach walked through the process for each FOIA request received by the county.
"The first thing that's done is to calendar the response. You've got to calculate the five business days. That's the due date for a response. It doesn't necessarily have to be the production of the documents. Now, what I know other entities do in the state is that it may be impossible within five days, or unreasonable within five days is probably a better word, to actually produce the records or even do the analysis on an exemption. And so, within those five days, at least some communication goes out that says you can appear on a certain date for inspection, deny the request and cite the reason, or, in some instances, you have to say as the governmental unit, 'You're in the queue and we're working on it. We'll get to it when we can.' Vance has so many, he has to do that."
Given the increase in requests, Giggenbach said he and Lipscomb have spoken with at least one state legislator about the possibility of extending the five-day window.
In response, Commissioner Sean Sikora said championing the issue would be a risky proposition for an elected official, stating, "I guarantee you no one has got the political will to actually do that."
As for what's behind the surge in FOIA filings, it's difficult to pinpoint a specific cause.
A recent New York Times report focused on how the rise of artificial intelligence and other technology has made it simple to automate the creation and mass submission of information requests.
Less obvious is the fact that social media has fueled a cottage industry in the form of podcasts and video production.
"A lot of my requests are for body cams. I think that a lot of these folks are starting their own podcasts or webpages and just want body cams of something exciting that may get clicks or views, but they also want everything else, including reports. They're entitled to all of it. I understand that. But it's just becoming a lot for us to deal with," Lipscomb said.
Asked if the surge in FOIA requests to the sheriff's department was tied to the controversy over the county's implementation of Flock cameras, Lipscomb said that while there have been plenty of those requests, the general surge in FOIAs began long before Flock was ever mentioned in Monongalia County.
"You'll have these entities that are out of state seeking, let's say, information from the prosecutor's office on murder cases that are handled, seeking all the discovery and photographs. So, you can imagine what it would be like for the victim's family to see some podcast or some web page with gruesome photographs of their deceased loved one. It's abused in some respects," Giggenbach said. "Now, many of the requests are legitimate, and we answer the ones that are legitimate and don't have an exception. We do our best and it takes a lot of work. There was a recent one where a large amount of documents were produced and the individual could inspect them. We really do the best that we can, but it's a lot of hard work and it's time consuming. And five days is tough."