Kootenai County adopts resolution setting public-records request fees, clarifies two-hour resident exemption

Kootenai County commissioners on July 7 adopted Resolution 2026-59, which sets fees to recover actual costs associated with responding to public-records requests.

Sarah Masters presented the updated resolution and told the board that state statute requires two free hours for residents. As Masters explained: "the statute requires the 2 free hours for residents" and the proposed resolution clarifies that if a requester is not an Idaho resident, that two-hour free allowance does not apply.

There was brief clarification during the hearing about whether a prior hearing had already been conducted; staff confirmed the board would conduct the hearing again. No members of the public offered testimony for or against the proposed fee schedule. After closing public testimony and moving to deliberations, the board voted to adopt the resolution.

Why it matters: the resolution formalizes how the county will recover costs for staff time and other expenses when fulfilling records requests, and explicitly distinguishes resident requesters (entitled to two free hours under statute) from non-resident requesters. The county will implement the fee schedule as approved and staff indicated follow-up procedures will be handled through the auditor's or records office.

Next steps: implementation details (billing, invoicing, and any administrative procedures) will be carried out by county records and finance staff under the adopted resolution.