Prineville, Ore. – The Crook County Board of Commissioners voted last week to shift responsibility for administering public records requests away from the county’s legal department and into county administration, adopting an interim structure while a comprehensive rewrite of the county’s public records policy is underway.
The unanimous vote designates County Manager Will Van Vactor as interim public records custodian and removes County Counsel Eric Blaine from serving as the primary official responsible for receiving, processing, and responding to public records requests. Legal counsel will remain available to provide legal advice and exemption guidance, but will no longer oversee routine records administration.
County officials described the change as a practical adjustment driven by staffing limitations and the need to align county practices with statewide norms. The vote, however, follows extended disputes over records access, repeated challenges, and direct intervention by the Oregon Public Records Advocate regarding the county’s prior approach.
“Our current policy puts a lot of the impetus on county counsel and the legal department. We’re in a period of transition there and currently have one attorney, so this is an opportunity to ensure county counsel is able to focus on critical legal services, while also taking a step toward bringing our public records practices into line with common practices seen throughout the state,” said Van Vactor.
“Under this interim structure, administration would handle the day-to-day processing of requests, with legal counsel available to provide advice and exemption guidance when needed.”
The interim restructuring is part of a longer project to revamp the county’s entire public meetings and records processes, a move stemming from a series of public records conflicts in 2024 and 2025, including requests submitted by the Prineville Review. The primary request centered on records as part of an investigation into the Natural Resource Advisory Committee, which was found to have been holding secret, unnoticed meetings with federal officials, including discussions over the potential federal purchase of private land in eastern Crook County, as well as ethics questions involving a committee member who held contracts with the U.S. Forest Service that was included in the discussions.
That dispute culminated in a facilitated dispute resolution case by the Oregon Public Records Advocate, Todd Albert, who eventually advised Crook County that its handling of the requests “does not align with the law.” Albert’s guidance focused on the county’s practice of involving elected officials and legal counsel in administrative records decisions — including fee waiver determinations — rather than processing requests through staff under a written policy, as contemplated by Oregon’s public records framework.
Following that guidance, the county reversed course on its position and delegated authority back to staff. Crook County Manager Will Van Vactor then directed the release of the records following the grant of a full waiver. However, Blaine then proceeded with a trickle production of records responsive to this publication’s requests over another nearly six-month period, despite his past claims that any legal review wouldn’t take more than a couple of hours.
As part of the facilitated dispute resolution, Blaine had provided Albert with only the written minutes of a public meeting of the commissioners that addressed the underlying records dispute. Those minutes did not reflect oral statements made during the meeting — including remarks by Commissioner Susan Hermreck expressing concern that granting fee waivers or reductions could allow further investigation into county boards and committees and expose a history of public meetings compliance issues.
The omission of those remarks from the written minutes reviewed by the Public Records Advocate became part of the Prineville Review’s broader concern that the full context surrounding the county’s resistance to records access was not being fully captured during the state-level review. Albert’s guidance to county officials and the commissioners came after the Prineville Review pointed Albert to the statements made in the meeting’s video and audio recordings.
While Oregon law does not prohibit public bodies from involving legal counsel in public records matters, placing legal counsel at the center of routine public records administration presents significant legal and practical concerns, many of which were raised during the county’s disputes with the Review.
Under Oregon law and established precedent, public bodies may recover costs only for actual legal review — not for administrative tasks such as logging requests, coordinating searches, issuing acknowledgment letters, assessing fees, or compiling records. When those non-legal functions are performed by attorneys, the county cannot recover the associated costs, even though legal staff are typically among the most expensive personnel.
That structure also increases the risk of delay, particularly in offices with limited legal staffing, and conflicts with the requirement that public bodies use the least-cost, reasonably available staff to process public records requests. Even where exemptions or redactions are required, Oregon public bodies customarily rely on trained administrative staff to perform standard redactions, reserving attorney involvement for more non-routine or legally complex determinations and segmentation of exempt and non-exempt records.
Those are the statewide standards Van Vactor referenced Wednesday when he said the interim change would bring Crook County’s practices “into line with common practices seen throughout the state.”
“Our current policy puts a lot of the impetus on county counsel,” Van Vactor told commissioners. “This is an opportunity to ensure legal can focus on critical legal services while administration handles the day-to-day processing.”
In late 2024, Crook County Clerk Cheryl Seely began more consistently handling public records requests made to her office directly, rather than routing them through the county counsel’s office. While Seely’s office continues to rely on county counsel for legal support when needed, as an independently elected official, she retains discretion over how her office responds to requests under Oregon’s public records law.
In multiple requests submitted by the Prineville Review, Seely has personally and promptly addressed records requests, often completing full production of records within the initial five-day statutory acknowledgment period, a far cry from many of the requests handled by Blaine’s office. In prior statements to the Prineville Review, Seely said that when requests are routine and straightforward, it was “good practice to aim for transparency” and to avoid burdening requesters unnecessarily.
That approach mirrors the administrative model cited by Van Vactor and referenced by commissioners on Wednesday as the standard used by many public bodies across Oregon.
“What does not change is public access under Oregon’s public records law. The public remains fully entitled to public records, all statutory timelines and standards still apply, and departments will continue to assist in locating and providing responsive records,” Van Vactor explained.
During Wednesday’s meeting, commissioners acknowledged the county’s past difficulties and framed the interim change as part of a broader effort to reset how public records are handled.
Commissioner Seth Crawford, who requested the policy discussion, said the issue had been raised repeatedly in prior public meetings and that the county needed to align its practices with state guidance and common administrative models.
“This is something we’ve been talking about for quite a while,” Crawford said. “This is how most counties handle public records — administratively — with legal support when it’s actually needed.”
Hermreck, who had previously been critical of the Prineville Review’s public records requests and the demands they placed on county resources, said the county had made progress on transparency and records handling, while acknowledging that additional work remains.
Commissioner Brian Barney emphasized that the interim order also reduces individual exposure by separating legal advice from administrative decision-making.
Blaine did not oppose the restructuring but raised a detailed series of operational questions during the meeting, including who issues preservation notices, who determines fee deposits, how pending requests would be transitioned, and who manages appeals.
“There’s probably no right or wrong answer to these,” Blaine said. “Every answer involves a trade-off.”
Commissioners and Van Vactor repeatedly confirmed in response to a slew of questions from Blaine that county administration would assume nearly all public records responsibilities, with legal counsel advising upon request. Certain employee-specific records requests outside Oregon’s public records statute may temporarily remain with the legal department pending further policy development.
During the discussion, commissioners also acknowledged Blaine’s past work and emphasized that the interim change was not intended as a criticism of his performance. Commissioner Brian Barney thanked Blaine publicly, saying, “I just want to thank Eric for the good work that he does, and we appreciate him. I understand the reason why this order needed to be, and it’s for his benefit a lot.” Barney added that legal counsel would continue to play an important advisory role even as administrative responsibility shifts.
The interim order, adopted as Order No. 2026-06, will remain in effect until the county adopts its revised public records policy later this year.
The move also comes as part of a broader public transparency initiative spearheaded by Crawford and approved by the board last year. That effort first led to an overhaul of the county’s public meetings policies and procedures, including measures that go beyond the minimum requirements of Oregon’s public meetings law.
The overhaul was among the first major projects undertaken by Van Vactor after he was appointed in late 2024 as the county’s first official county manager, following Crook County’s transition from a county court to a board of commissioners.
Mr. Alderman is an investigative journalist specializing in government transparency, non-profit accountability, consumer protection, and is a subject matter expert on Oregon’s public records and meetings laws. As a former U.S. Army Military Police Officer, he brings a disciplined investigative approach to his reporting that has frequently exposed ethics violations, financial mismanagement, and transparency failures by public officials and agencies.
