Public records requests have increased sharply

Public records requests have increased dramatically since 2011, placing an added burden on City staff, especially City Recorder Kathy Nelson who handles all those requests in addition to her other duties.

The Sisters City Council addressed the issue at a workshop last Thursday.

Currently, anyone can fill out a request form for any City public record, such as plot maps, recordings of public meetings, and development documents. If the staff time required to fill the request is less than 15 minutes, there is no charge. If it will cost more than $25 to fill the request, a written cost estimate is provided to the requester who must provide confirmation that he wants staff to proceed.

The City may require payment of estimated charges before taking further action on a request. Actual costs can end up being much more than the amount collected, staff reports. They can include the cost of the time spent by staff to locate the requested records, reviewing the records in order to delete exempt material, copying records, certifying documents as true copies, or sending records by special methods such as express mail.

There is also the cost of time spent by the City attorney reviewing, redacting and segregating records at the City's request, a cost that is not recoverable.

The City of Sisters charges much less than a number of other Oregon cities for this service, at $32.33 an hour. That figure is based on the average pay per hour plus benefits of certain City employees. The $32.33 represents numbers from five years ago. At 2015 rates, the figure would calculate to $41.53 an hour.

In addition, there is a $10 charge for CDs and 25 cents per copy for printed material. For comparison, Forest Grove charges 20 cents per copy (the lowest) but $55.50 an hour, $22 for CDs, and offers no free time. Several cities charge $100 an hour for electronic records research.

So the citizens of Sisters are getting a pretty good deal when it comes to procuring public records. But there is a trend developing. In 2012, $555 was collected for public records requests; in 2013, $741; and in 2014, $3,536.

Through March 10, 2015, there have been 59 total public records requests. Twenty-five of those requests came from Ed Protas; 17 from Mike Morgan, both of whom have lately been very active in City politics. Four requests came from The Nugget and the other 13 from nine different people. Senior living facility developer Mark Adolf made three requests for documents regarding the McKenzie Meadows development, and Tom Pryor also made three requests regarding McKenzie Meadows.

Only three of the requests involved any payment of fees.

Nelson is currently working on a request that has to date filled three binders and is still in process.

The City Council has decided to address this situation in a future workshop, looking at a three-year comparison, what other cities do, and possibly establishing a new fee schedule.