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Policy - Public Record Request Policy
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INFORMATION CONTACT:
Liz Cooper, Public Communications, Director, 704-283-3587
ACTION REQUESTED:
1) Adopt the Public Record Request Policy and 2) authorize the County Manager or designee to update the Policy as needed in consultation with the County Attorney or designee.
PRIOR BOARD ACTIONS:
None.
BACKGROUND:
The Public Record Request Policy provides a uniform process for managing, processing and responding to public records requests in compliance with the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. Chapter 132) and all applicable confidentiality laws.
While the County has maintained a Public Records Request Policy for many years, this revised version includes guidelines for assessing a special service charge in certain circumstances. Specifically, when fulfilling a public records request requires a significant amount of staff time, clerical support, or information technology assistance, the County may assess a service charge as permitted by N.C.G.S. §132-6.2(b).
Under the revised policy, requests estimated to require more than four hours of collective staff time will incur a reasonable fee of $40 per hour for any time beyond the initial four hours. This fee will apply to tasks necessary to fulfill requests, such as locating, collecting, sorting, copying, and preparing the records for release.
Some records, such as well and septic records, and records managed by the Fire Marshal’s Office, already require a fee to process regardless of staff time required to produce them.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Revenues from special service charges will be appropriated in the Public Communications budget annually.