A northwestern Washington county will pay $50,000 to settle a lawsuit after officials failed to fulfill a public records request in 2016.

The Peninsula Daily News reports Jefferson County commissioners on Monday approved the settlement after a Clark County resident filed a lawsuit last year when the county did not fulfill his request.

Alan Harvey filed the records request in November 2016 and received a prompt response from the county, promising the records by January 2017. The county fulfilled his request after the lawsuit was filed.

Commissioner Kathleen Kler says the unfulfilled request was a staff error, and it was not intentional.

County Administrator Philip Morley says most of the roughly 500 record requests for the county each year are handled properly. He says the county regrets the mistake.