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Commissioners discuss FOIA fees and costs tied to detailed public-records demands
Summary
County officials and the coroner discussed whether to adopt a standard charge for broad public-records requests after presenters said FOIA work is consuming staff time and could merit fees to recoup costs.
During the coroner's presentation and follow-up discussion, commissioners raised the possibility of a standardized fee for processing voluminous public-records requests. A commissioner referenced guidance from an auditors' conference suggesting a $25-per-hour charge to regroup records when requests are exceptionally broad. "That was just the amount that was given by the order of the amounts... $25 number. Per hour," one commissioner said in discussion.
Webb and other department heads agreed that a charge could offset staff time but said statutory constraints, countywide policy and the need to ensure next-of-kin and law-enforcement access complicate a unilateral change. Commissioners indicated they would consider a uniform policy if recommended and would ask legal counsel and county attorneys to review statutory authority and implementation mechanics.
Provenance: topicintro SEG 192, topfinish SEG 413
