County moves to clarify FOIA fees and schedule public hearing on administrative fees

County staff presented a redlined update to the county's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) policy to clarify charges for records requests and to add FOIA fees to the administrative fee schedule.

The county FOIA officer said the proposed changes mostly formalize current practice: responses that require minimal staff time would not be charged, while requests requiring more than an hour of staff time, extensive redaction, or a high volume of printing or electronic copying could incur fees. Staff proposed charging per‑hour staff time at the employee's hourly rate (not including fringe), plus printing and media costs; payment would be required in advance for estimates above a threshold. The updated policy would also appear alongside administrative fees adopted by resolution.

The county attorney and staff discussed practical administration and tracking; staff said they will provide a historical count of FOIA requests for the last two calendar years to the board. The board agreed to advertise required public hearings: one on the administrative fee schedule (because fees are adopted by resolution) and adoption of the FOIA policy updates. Staff proposed the first November meeting; the board instructed staff to schedule public‑hearing action and noted scheduling conflicts with the VACo conference and Veterans Day when setting final dates.

No changes were adopted at the meeting; staff will advertise the public hearing(s) and bring the items back for board action.