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Council adopts KORA-aligned fee schedule allowing staff time and legal-review costs to be charged
Summary
The City Council adopted a resolution updating Gardner’s fee schedule for Kansas Open Records Act requests to permit charging requesters for staff time after a 15-minute threshold, attorney review costs and retrieval of archived boxes at actual cost.
The Gardner City Council voted to adopt an updated schedule of fees and charges to align with changes in the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) enacted in 2025 (House Bill 2134). The resolution updates how the city may recover costs for fulfilling public-records requests.
City staff explained the revisions during the meeting: the city may now charge for staff time (actual cost, excluding benefits) after the first 15 minutes of work on a request; charge for legal-review and redaction by outside or in-house counsel at actual cost when necessary; and charge for retrieval of archived records boxes at actual cost. Staff said previous hourly-average charges tended to underrecover actual costs and that the city previously could not directly charge for attorney review when required.
Staff also noted the amended statute requires public agencies to make reasonable efforts to work with requesters to mitigate costs when a request will take more than five hours or cost more than $200, and requesters may obtain an itemized statement of charges. Staff reiterated current practice to direct requesters to information that is readily available on the city website at no cost and said the majority of requests are quick or are satisfied by items already posted online.
Council adopted Resolution 2175 to update the city’s fees and charges schedule consistent with KORA changes; the motion carried by voice vote.
