Agencies also are not supposed to grill you about who you are or why you want to look at public documents. You are entitled to an explanation of the materials if you want one, but the agency can not subject you to a tutorial. A reasonable fee may be charged for copies. Nevertheless, county and city health departments can take days to provide reports, the Pioneer Press learned when we set aside media credentials to see how local government offices would treat an average consumer asking to view restaurant files. Agencies often require advance notice to pull reports, so it's probably not worth your time to go into an office without calling ahead.
Some health departments treat requests with suspicion.
Some will not let you see complaints. We called six health departments and requested information on two restaurants from each. The director called later the same day and left a message saying he would need more information about the request. We called back with more information, then waited three days but the call was never returned. Gunther said later it would have been better to request the files in person rather than by telephone.