The Bloomington City Council voted on Oct. 13 to amend the city’s schedule of fees for Freedom of Information Act requests, adopting the more conservative option (Option 2) that affects primarily commercial requesters.

City Clerk Leslie Yocom presented data showing heavy FOIA workload: 1,186 FOIA requests completed in the last three months and a year-to-date total of 3,031 requests. Yocom said the city’s average staff cost per request was approximately $85.17 over the last three months and $63.70 year-to-date. Based on current volumes, the clerk projected FOIA program costs near $240,000 annually.

Under the Option 2 the council approved, the city will charge for electronic data delivery and for commercial requesters beyond eight hours of staff time. Yocom explained that noncommercial requesters, the news media and nonprofits would not be charged under Option 2; commercial requesters would begin paying for electronic data and would be charged $10 per hour for staff time after the first eight hours devoted to a commercial request. Paper-copy rules (first 50 pages free, 15¢ per page thereafter) remain aligned with state guidance.

Council member Ward moved approval of Option 2 and the motion passed with no nays.

Why it matters: City staff are experiencing rapid increases in FOIA volume (the clerk reported roughly a 40% year-over-year increase) and are seeking ways to reduce staff time spent on frequent commercial requests and to make electronic-data processing more sustainable. The changes aim both to recover staff costs for heavy commercial use and to encourage requesters to use the city’s transparency portal and self-service options.

Clarifying details provided at the meeting included the clerk’s plan to improve the transparency portal, roll out police-specific FOIA forms and launch “smart” forms that direct requesters to existing materials to reduce duplicate requests.

Next steps: The clerk’s office will implement the updated fee schedule and continue work on the transparency portal and intake forms; staff said they will provide more metrics on commercial request volumes after an upcoming software update.