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Open-records requests jump 90% in 2025; planning and police top request counts
Summary
The city court clerk reported 221 open-records requests in 2025, a 90% increase over 2024; planning & development and the police department each received 78 requests. Staff plans Laserfiche digitization, department liaisons for requests and a policy review with the city attorney to manage workload.
The city court clerk presented a quarterly open-records update showing a marked rise in public-records activity.
Miss Hickman said the office received 221 requests in 2025, up from 116 in 2024 — a 90% year-over-year increase — and noted 15 requests already filed for 2026. Planning & Development and the Police Department each handled 78 requests, the clerk said, and 71% of requests came from outside Oak Ridge.
Hickman said the city will explore ways to reduce staff time on routine requests by improving public-facing databases and by getting planning and development records online through the Laserfiche records-management system. The office will also identify departmental liaisons to handle requests and will review the open-records policy (last reviewed in 2017) with the city attorney.
The clerk cautioned that open-records labor costs are significant and noted pending state legislative discussion about allowing labor costs to be charged for inspection-only requests. The council thanked staff for the update and asked for continued monitoring and process improvements.
No policy changes were adopted at the meeting; staff will return with proposed procedural improvements and policy updates as appropriate.
