“Produce the records of the search.”
He writes to Oregon State Landscape Architect Board that its November 2, 2026, answer did not provide the records of the search, and asks: “Produce the records of the search.”
Public Records Officer,
On November 2, 2026, you wrote: “OSLAB does not have any public records responsive to your request.”1 My request of October 31, 2026 includes the records of the search conducted to answer it: each search as saved by the system that ran it, with its query, terms, date range, accounts searched, and result counts.2 You did not provide them.
“No records” is an answer only when a search stands behind it. Those records exist once the search is run, and they are public records in your custody. A response is complete when the public body provides “all requested records within the possession or custody of the public body” [ORS 192.329(2)(a)]. That includes these.
If you take the position that the records of the search are not part of my request, I will learn something from that about how to make a request to you: wait until you confirm the search was run, then make a second public records request for its records. I have already built the system that does that. You are looking at it. Each second request it sends is one more for you to answer.
Produce the records of the search. If none was run, run it. Follow the statute [ORS 192.329(2)(a)].
Thank you for your contribution to the record.
