Good morning all - 

It is interesting how the different public jurisdictions deal with FOI
requests. California Government Codes do not allow charges for research
and staff time to process public records requests (Ca Govt Code 6250
et.seq.) as the Codes only allow recovery of direct copying costs. There
are allowances provided if a requestor wants the data in a format that
was not originally created, then we can charge additional fees.

Calif. Codes require a 10 day response (10 days, not 10 working days) to
the request with one 14 day extension allowed for exceptional requests,
so we do not have the luxury to take years to respond, or take the
requests out of sequence received. Obviously, a request for a small item
will be processed and out of the office before a complex request, but
the maximum response time limits still prevail. We do have some latitude
in regards to actually producing the material, especially when dealing
with large volumes of material but time of delivery must be reasonable
and our policy is to complete the request as quickly as possible.

Many California city attorneys have taken a very strict interpretation
of these Codes which minimize any cost recovery. For example, we do not
charge for the first 15 pages copied, if more then the customer is
charged .10 per page for the entire job. If electronic, we charge .05
per file + $1.00 for the media. Even then, the requestor has the option
of reviewing the information and only paying for the actual copies
taken.

The Public Record Act (PRA) process has become a huge part of our
business, we have one staff member that handles all of the
correspondence and tracking with the departments & city attorney office,
compiles all the copies and handles the mailing or viewing of the
material. This process often exceeds 20 hours per week of her time
alone, and does not include the staff time for the review process by the
attorney's office or the staff time in each department required to
provide information, or the records center staff time to retrieve the
material from the off-site center if needed. Unfortunately, we have not
been in a position to add staff to work with these requests so there has
been a huge impact on our daily operations.

As our city has a number of very active citizens and groups as well as
outside attorneys, organizations, and others, this burden continues to
increase, and all indications are it will keep growing. 

John Guthrie CDIA+
City Clerk Records Manager
City of Oceanside
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-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Tim Barnard
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 8:27 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [RM] FOIA & fees

From Sharon's post, part of the City of Lakewood's policy:  

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