Does the public agency have a responsibility to protect the integrity of records?
Yes. In Adams County Abstract Co. v. Fisk, 117 Idaho 513 (Ct.App. 1990), a title company wanted to set up its own copier in the county offices in order to make its own records of title documents. There was also a dispute about allowing the title company to copy original documents with its own equipment prior to the microfilming of the records. The Idaho Court of Appeals held that the county recorder could not be compelled to allow private photocopying of public records in the courthouse, that he could reasonably restrict the physical handling of original documents, and he could require that the county’s copying equipment be used. The concepts of the Adams County case were preserved in the public records law. Sections 9-338(1) and (2) provide the right to examine public records “at all reasonabltimes,” and the right to receive photographs or other copies “using equipment provided by the public agency or independent public body corporate and politic or using equipment designated by the c
