Merriam council hears proposal to rewrite public-records code, set new fees and time thresholds

MERRIAM, Kan. — The Merriam City Council on Monday reviewed proposed changes to Chapter 2 of the municipal code that would reorganize the city’s public-records procedures, move fees out of the code and onto a fee schedule, and allow charging for staff time if a records request requires more than 15 minutes of work.

City staff framed the package as a cleanup and an attempt to limit the burden on staff created by repeated, broad or highly detailed requests. The clerk said the code has not been substantially updated since 1994 and that recent state law changes affect how cities may calculate direct staff cost for records responses. The council directed staff to draft an ordinance and bring the proposed code changes and a revised fee schedule back for council consideration at the next meeting.

The proposed changes would: remove fixed fee references from the code and put them in the city’s fee schedule; eliminate some discretionary fee waivers; require that requesters attest their records will not be used for commercial solicitation; add explicit redaction…