Public records are governed by the Public Records Act [RCW 42.56] and pertains to all records prepared, owned, used or retained by any department or office of the City of Winlock, excluding the Winlock Municipal Court.

NOTE: the Public Disclosure Act is for the purpose of providing existing documentation or records, not for the purpose of gathering, sorting and/or creating new documentation.  General questions specific to certain departments should be directed to the appropriate personnel.

Public Records Officer [PRO]

Penny Jo Haney, City Clerk
323 NE First Street
PO Box 777
Winlock, WA 98596-0777
Phone: 360-785-3811, ext. 201 | Fax: 360-785-4378
cityclerk@cityofwinlock.com

Records Request Instructions

Get started by selecting the appropriate request form below.
Public Records Request Form
Police Department Records Request Form
Municipal Court Public Records Request Form


If you have questions, please see our FAQs below or contact us.

Public Records Request Process

Within five (5) business days after the receipt of a request, the Public Records Officer will send your request to the appropriate department(s) for a search for records. After a search is conducted the Public Records Officer and/or designee will do one or more of the following:

Make the records request available for inspection and/or copying.
Acknowledge the receipt of the request and provide a reasonable time estimate of when the records request will be available.
Seek clarification if the request is unclear.
Deny the request and cite the legal exemption.
Note: The day the request is received does not count as one of the five (5) days. Weekends and holidays observed by the city are also excluded in the calculation. If the requester has not received a response from the city within five (5) business days from the date of filing a public records request, the requestor may contact the Public Records Officer to ensure that the records request was received by the agency.

Court Records Information

Access to judicial records is governed by court rules, federal statutes, state statutes, court orders, or case law. There are two types of judicial records addressed by court rules: Court (case) Records and Administrative Records.

Court Case Records – GR 31 case records are records that relate to in-court proceedings including case files, pleadings, and dockets.

Administrative Records – GR 31.1 administrative records are records that pertain to the management, supervision or administration of a court or judicial agency.

To request court/administrative records, fill out the Court Records Request Form. You can submit the request by emailing, mailing, or faxing to: Winlock Municipal Court municourt@cityofwinlock.com PO Box 777 Winlock, WA 98596 Fax: 360-785-4378

Fees/Payments

Here you can conveniently pay for public records/court records online by using Invoice Cloud

Invoicecloud.com/thecityofwinlock

The convenience fee charged for this service will be displayed for your review before you submit your payment. Fees are as follows:
Credit/Debit Cards 3% of the amount being paid with a minimum $2.00 charge.
E-Checks $1.95

Note: if you are not automatically redirected to Invoice Cloud, select the Payments Tab at the top of the page to be redirected to the Payments Page.

Exemptions from Disclosure

The Public Records Act provides certain types of documents and/or parts of documents are exempt from public inspection and/or copying. Below is a list of exemptions from disclosure.

Table of Public Records Act Exemptions

Court Records and Court Administrative Records are accessible to the public unless access is exempted or prohibited under GR 31, GR 31.1, GR 22, other court rules, federal statues, state statutes, court orders or case law

Table of Court Exemptions

Public Records Policy

FAQ