Date:
08/17/2017
Subject:
Rohan Phillips/City of Coralville - Dismissal Order
Opinion:
The Iowa Public Information Board
|
In re the Matter of: Rohan Phillips, Complainant And Concerning: City of Coralville, Respondent |
Case Number: 17FC:0048 DISMISSAL ORDER |
COMES NOW, Margaret E. Johnson, Executive Director for the Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB), and enters this Dismissal Order.
Rohan Phillips filed complaint 17FC:0048 on June 15, 2017, alleging that the City of Coralville (City) violated Iowa Code chapter 22 by failing to provide a record he requested.
Mr. Phillips reported that on May 8, 2017, he requested a “complete log of all Rental Inspection performed in March and April 2017.” He added that this log should include the permit number, the permit holder’s full name and address, the property address, the date/time the inspection was performed, and the date/time the prior inspection was performed.
On June 15, 2017, the city clerk responded that all of Mr. Phillips record requests were forwarded to the city attorney for his review. On June 30, 2017, the city attorney notified this office that the requested records had been mailed to Mr. Phillips.
Mr. Phillips was not satisfied with the records. He stated that the log did not contain all the information he wanted to appear on the record. In particular, the log was missing a permit number, the property owner’s name, and the prior inspection date.
He also disputed the need to pay $76.00 for the log. The fees were based upon the search time required to compile the information (four hours at $20.00 per hour, with the first 15 minutes at no charge) plus the copy fee of $0.10 per page for 10 pages.
On June 15, 2017, Mr. Phillips had also expanded his initial request to include May 2017. These records were included in the materials released on June 30, 2017. He has not paid the fees for this record request.
The city attorney responded to the complaint that the records were incomplete, stating:
“Mr. Phillips, the City does not have a database set up that would easily access this information. We are in the process of getting a new software program that should make searching and printing much easier, but at this point, my understanding is that the inspector has to go back into each individual rental property and gather information. Therefore, since you requested 3 months worth of data, 4 hours is not an unreasonable amount of time in my opinion. As a reminder of the fact of lack of a database, we still give property owners inspection reports that are handwritten and in duplicate.”
The names of the owners, permit numbers, and prior inspection dates are not maintained in the system currently in use by the City. To determine the owners’ names, city staff would need to access the assessor’s website and search each property address. This would require a substantial amount of employee time, which would be billed to Mr. Phillips. He can access the same information from the assessor without paying City staff to do his research.
The City is planning to update the computer program to input additional data with the inspection reports. When that occurs, the future records should be more informative.
Mr. Phillips wants the City to produce a record that meets his specific request for information, even though such a record does not exist. The data necessary to author such a record is not available in the current data processing software used by the City.
Iowa Code section 22.1(3)(a) defines public records to include “all records, documents, tape, or other information, stored or preserved in any medium, of or belonging to ... any county, city, township, school corporation, …..” In this particular situation, no record existed that met the description of the record Mr. Phillips requested. The City was able to author a record that met most of his request, but did not have stored or preserved some of the data he wanted included in the record.
The time frame between the date of the request and the release of the information was over seven weeks. Part of the delay is due to the path this request traveled -- from city clerk to city attorney to city staff and then back to the city attorney for review and release. Some of the delay is also because no records existed that met the description of the requested records, and the City decided to create a record from the data that did exist. However, the City should review this process and determine if it can be streamlined. Someone should also have informed Mr. Phillips that the record request had been transferred to another City employee and given him an estimate of the time it might take to create the record.
Iowa Code section 23.8(1) requires that a complaint be within the IPIB’s jurisdiction, appear legally sufficient, and have merit before the IPIB accepts a complaint. This complaint is within the jurisdiction of the IPIB. Section 23.8(2) allows the IPIB to refuse to accept a complaint if it involves harmless error. In this complaint, the available records have been released, although the release could have been more timely.
IT IS SO ORDERED: Formal complaint 17FC:0048 is dismissed as harmless error and pursuant to Iowa Code section 23.8(2) and Iowa Administrative Rule 497-2.1(2)(b).
Pursuant to Iowa Administrative Rule 497-2.1(3), the IPIB may “delegate acceptance or dismissal of a complaint to the executive director, subject to review by the board.” The IPIB will review this Order on August 17, 2017. Pursuant to IPIB rule 497-2.1(4), the parties will be notified in writing of the decision.
By the IPIB Executive Director
_______________________________
Margaret E. Johnson
Dated this ___ day of ______, 2017.
CERTIFICATE OF MAILING
This document was sent by electronic mail on the ___ day of ____, 2017, to:
IPIB
Rohan Phillips
Kevin Olson, counsel for the City of Coralville