Council adopts $50 monthly council allotment for public‑records requests; clerk to audit past charges

Town clerk Valerie presented a draft public-records request policy to the Town of Loxahatchee Groves Town Council at the July 1 meeting, explaining the town is required to follow Florida’s public-records statute (Chapter 119) and seeking direction about fees, deposits, and a council-member allowance.

Valerie said high-volume requests often require outside IT contractor time (quoted at roughly $100–$125 per hour), and asked for direction on how the town should handle council requests that impose staff workload. Council debated whether to give elected officials free or subsidized access, how much staff time is reasonable to absorb without charging, and how to handle large batches of historical records that require consultant retrieval or redaction.

After public comment and staff explanation, council reached a working consensus to adopt a $50 monthly allotment (interpreted in the discussion as a $50 credit/deposit applied to requests by each council member), require that electronic public-records requests be circulated to all council members when appropriate, and direct staff to audit prior invoicing and ensure consistent pricing. Staff said they would close abandoned requests after seven days without a requester response and destroy abandoned copies after 30 days per the draft policy.

Clerk Valerie explained the process for larger IT retrievals: the IT contractor provides an estimate and a deposit is requested; staff will notify requesters if costs are rising and await direction. Council asked that all fees be posted and that council members be able to inspect records on town systems to reduce staff copying load where practical.

This direction is administrative: the policy and any formal fee schedule will be returned as a resolution for adoption and staff will produce the requested audit of prior public‑records charges.