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Resident raises FOIA appeal concerns over redactions and fees; city says staff will follow up
Summary
A resident told commissioners he filed two FOIA appeals after receiving heavily redacted pages and an unexplained fee increase from roughly $200 to over $1,000; the mayor and clerk said staff would follow up and the city said FOIA timeframes were being met.
A Kentwood resident told the City Commission on Sept. 16 that he had filed two appeals under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act after receiving a July records production that he said contained inconsistent and overbroad redactions and an unexplained fee increase.
The resident, identified in the meeting as Matt, told commissioners portions of the records he received were heavily redacted—entire pages rendered unreadable—despite similar pages earlier in the same document showing sender/recipient and time-stamp details. He said the redactions made the pages unusable and asked the commission to order a review for possible release.
Matt also said the city initially estimated his fees at approximately $200 but later informed him the estimate had risen to more than $1,000 and might increase further. He said he formally requested an itemized breakdown of those fees on Aug. 21 as allowed by law and had received no acknowledgement or itemization 26 days later. He said that combination of unexplained fee increases and an absent itemization constituted a likely statutory violation and asked for a refund.
Mayor Kepley and the clerk responded in the meeting that staff would contact him the following day with details about what occurred. The mayor said that, based on the record available to the commission, the city was operating within FOIA statutory timeframes but that staff would follow up with the requester to provide the requested itemization and explanation.
No formal commission action was taken at the meeting; staff indicated they would follow up directly with the requester.
