Taylors Commissioners Revise Public Records Policy

TAYLORS – Fire and Sewer District commissioners on Tuesday revisited and revised a month-old policy regarding requests of the district made under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.

Commissioners had voted to adopt a policy to charge fees “not to exceed the actual cost” of records searches; on Tuesday, they refined the language in the policy to reflect “common-sense” issues, according to commission chairman Doug Wavle.

“Sometimes it gets a little unreasonable,” Wavle said, “if you’re out there asking for information and it’s something very simple and we’re saying we’re going to charge you a minimum of an hour’s worth of time to give you something as simple as a few copies of something we’ve got our hands on – it doesn’t make sense.”

Commissioners voted unanimously to change two points of the policy they created at their last meeting.

First, they voted to clarify the language of the policy to emphasize that some documents “may be furnished” for free or at a reduced charge.

The second amendment to the policy struck a one-hour-minimum charge for labor to research a FOIA request, in favor of a quarter-hour minimum.

The district’s hourly rates for researching a FOIA request range from $18-$33.

“That way there’s no appearance of us making a profit,” commissioner Gilbert Rivers said during the discussion. “That’s the thing – it’s just the appearance, it’s not a fact, but we don’t want the appearance.”

The charge for copies is 25 cents for black and white and 50 cents for color, according to the FOIA request form available at the district office.