Portal to streamline public record request process

Requesters can track progress, message staff

Simpsonville, S.C. — With a continued commitment to openness, accessibility and transparency, the City of Simpsonville has transitioned to an online portal for processing public records requests.  

The Simpsonville Public Records Request Portal will improve both the requester experience and staff workflow.

"The timely and accurate fulfillment of public record requests is a top priority for the City of Simpsonville because transparency is a top priority," said Community Relations Specialist Justin Campbell, who oversees public record requests for the City. "Our new public record request portal will streamline requests by centralizing the process in one location, facilitating efficient communication among requesters and staff and tracking the progress of requests. Simply put, the portal reduces the amount of work for staff to process a request and provides requesters greater accessibility."

Features of the portal include a short user-friendly online form, immediate access to uploaded records, direct messaging between requesters and staff, a timeline for the tracking of requests and their progress and availability of published records and requests for viewing by the general public. Campbell is especially excited about the open accessibility of previous requests.

"The portal allows users to search for their desired records in the public database of completed requests," Campbell said. "Say a citizen wants a specific financial record, and a request for that same record has already been processed. That user could find what they're looking for in the public database without even submitting a request. Such a feature both saves time for users and frees up staff to process other requests."

Given the frequency and scope of public record requests submitted to the City, the process needed an overhaul. The workflow of processing a request before the portal included the submission of a request online, via email or via hard-copy; emailing an acknowledgment to the requester; forwarding the request to the appropriate staff member/s; adding due dates to an online calendar; conducting email correspondence with the requester and among staff that include numerous emails; emailing or mailing records to the requester and completion, printing and filing of paperwork to close out the request.

Campbell said the online portal affords staff members more independence in processing requests, which enables him to see and manage the bigger picture.

"The bigger picture is whether public record requests are being processed quickly, efficiently and accurately by the City of Simpsonville," Campbell said. "Instead of relying on me to communicate back and forth with requesters or providing records to me for me to then provide to requesters, staff can streamline their work by sending messages directly to and uploading records for requesters through the portal in one centralized timeline of activity. Staff will work off one stream of activity and information, which ensures everyone's on the same page and working together."

While use of the portal is strongly encouraged by the City, members of the public may still submit requests by completing and delivering a FOIA request form to City Hall or emailing it to commrelations@simpsonville.com. When possible staff will utilize the portal, including entering requests submitted external to the portal into the portal.

"The public has a right to make public record requests to the City via a hard-copy form, email or even letter, and the City will happily process those requests," Campbell said. "Because the portal provides benefits to the City and requesters, any request that is submitted outside the portal will eventually make its way into the portal to ensure quick and efficient processing of the request."