Jennings County Council approves ordinance allowing fees for public‑records requests

The Jennings County Council voted to adopt an ordinance establishing a countywide fee schedule for copy and certification fees under the Access to Public Records Act.

Council members debated the scope and enforcement of the ordinance after staff described a situation in which an office received requests for thousands of pages. An unidentified speaker summarized the county’s exposure, saying, “we had 6,000 cases in our office and they wanted copies of all of it,” and used that example to justify fees for large, labor‑intensive requests.

Supporters said the ordinance allows the county to recover costs associated with producing very large records requests, particularly when producing paper copies or performing heavy staff time. Members discussed whether department heads should have discretion to charge or whether the fee schedule should be applied uniformly countywide; some council members suggested the ordinance could be written to direct fees to a particular accounting treatment so money would be deposited and tracked appropriately.

After discussion, a motion to accept the ordinance as read was moved and seconded and carried by voice vote.

The council also clarified post‑vote that how fees are collected and routed (for example, checks or monthly transfers to the general fund) can be addressed administratively so that departments place collected funds in the proper accounts.