Adams County counsel proposes charging for large open-records requests; also updates on animal-control litigation

Corporation counsel told the Administrative & Finance Committee that the county completed its general code update and incorporated ordinances through July 2025 into the online code.

The counsel said they plan to bring forward a proposal to charge fees for large open-records requests, citing a rise in time-consuming requests from out-of-state entities and organizations. The counsel attached the Department of Justice fee schedule to the report as an example of how location and staff time charges might be structured.

“Some of them take a lot of time and require a lot of documents to be sent,” corporation counsel said, describing requests the office has received from entities based in other states.

Counsel explained how location fees work: under the referenced approach, staff time for locating records can be charged at an hourly rate (the counsel cited roughly $30 per hour as an example) but small requests — those under a statutory threshold — would not be charged. Counsel said staff would not charge location fees for ordinary requests for a couple documents but would reserve charges for very large requests that take substantial staff time.

Supervisor Edwards asked about litigation referenced in the counsel’s report. The counsel described an ongoing case tied to animal control: county humane officers seized five large dogs; three are being housed at the humane society, which recommended euthanasia, and the owners are contesting that recommendation. Counsel said a trial lasted about three hours last week and that proceedings would resume the following morning.

The committee did not adopt any policy at the meeting; corporation counsel said the fee proposal would be returned as a formal agenda item after discussions with the county administrator and treasurer.