Date:
05/19/2022
Subject:
Michael Merritt/City of Guthrie Center - Acceptance Order
Opinion:
The Iowa Public Information Board
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In re the Matter of: Michael Merritt, Complainant And Concerning: City of Guthrie Center, Respondent |
Case Number: 22FC:0019
Acceptance Order
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COMES NOW, Margaret E. Johnson, Executive Director for the Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB), and enters this Acceptance Order.
Michael Merritt filed formal complaint 22FC:0019 on March 9, 2022, alleging that the City of Guthrie Center (City) violated Iowa Code chapter 22. He provided documentation of a record request he filed on December 3, 2021, which requested copies of:
- “City of Guthrie Center Information System End-User interaction with the following uniform resource locators (URL)” between January 1, 2017, and December 3, 2021. Twenty-four URLs were listed.
- “All Guthrie Center, IA end-user electronic mail/attachments mentioning domains in paragraph 1(a).”
- All City of Guthrie Center emails or attachments including a list of 22 specific names from January 1, 2017, to December 3, 2021.
- City of Guthrie incident reports regarding three named individuals.
The December 3, 2021, record request was sent to the Guthrie Center City Hall.
Mr. Merritt alleged that the City did not provide the records and did not acknowledge his December 3, 2021, record request. On February 15, 2022, he emailed and mailed a status request. He alleged that he received no response from the City.
Upon receipt of the complaint, IPIB staff notified the City on March 14, 2022. On March 21, 2022, legal counsel for the City responded to the IPIB. He stated that he would investigate and file a response.
On March 28, 2022, the attorney responded that the City clerk ran “searches for the names and websites that Mr. Merritt requested, and we find no records responsive to his request.”1
Between March 28, 2022, and April 26, 2022, IPIB staff continued to communicate with the City and with Mr. Merritt to determine whether the other records were available. On March 31, 2022, the City attorney noted that the City does not have incident reports as the City contracts with Guthrie County for law enforcement services.2
On April 26, 2022, the City attorney forwarded a report from Guthrie Center Communications (GCC), a private company used by the City for information and technology services. GCC was unable to provide the information requested by Mr. Merritt in item (1) of his record request.
GCC explained to the IPIB, the City attorney, and Mr. Merritt that prior to March 2020, the City did not have access to website history. In July 2021, a service was installed to track website usage, but the information was only stored for one day. On April 24, 2022, GCC conducted a search of the City’s four computers and found no matches.
Therefore, the City had no responsive records to release pursuant to Mr. Merritt’s request for information listed in item (1). The City had no records to release to Mr. Merritt for all items listed in his record request.
Of particular concern with this complaint is that a record search by the City did not occur until after Mr. Merritt filed his formal complaint. When asked why the City did not share this information with Mr. Merritt in December 2021, the City indicated that because there were no responsive records, the City thought no response was necessary.
There is no adequate justification for the City’s failure to respond to the records request within a reasonable period of time. While Iowa Code chapter 22 does not provide a specific time frame for a response, section 22.8(4) allows for a “good-faith, reasonable delay” in four specific situations. None of those four specific situations occurred with this complaint.
The Iowa Supreme Court provided some guidance on the timeliness of record release in Horsfield Materials, Inc. v. City of Dyersville, 834 N.W.2d 444, 461 (Iowa 2013):
Under this interpretation, practical considerations can enter into the time required for responding to an open records request, including “the size or nature of the request.” But the records must be provided promptly, unless the size or nature of the request makes that infeasible.
According to an Iowa Attorney General Sunshine Advisory Opinion from August 2005, “Delay is never justified simply for the convenience of the governmental body, but delay will not violate the law if it is in good faith or reasonable.”
In this case, there was a delay of four-and-a-half months between the date of the request and the sharing of the information that no records existed. This delay required additional efforts on the part of the complainant and IPIB staff that would have been avoided if the City had responded promptly. The City would benefit from having a public record policy that would assist with the prompt release of records.
Iowa Code section 23.8 requires that a complaint be within the IPIB’s jurisdiction, appear legally sufficient, and have merit before the IPIB accepts a complaint. This complaint does meet those requirements as to the timeliness issue.
IT IS SO ORDERED: Formal complaint 22FC:0018 is accepted pursuant to Iowa Code section 23.8(1) and Iowa Administrative Rule 497-2.1(2)(a). Parties shall cooperate with IPIB staff to reach an appropriate informal resolution to resolve the complaint pursuant to Iowa Code section 23.9.
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 May 19, 2022. Pursuant to IPIB rule 497-2.1(4), the parties will be notified in writing of its decision.
By the IPIB Executive Director
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Margaret E. Johnson
1. Record request items numbered (2) and (3).
2. Record request item number (4). See also formal complaint 22FC:0018, Merritt/Guthrie County.
CERTIFICATE OF MAILING
This document was sent by electronic mail on the ___ day of May, 2022, to:
Michael Merritt
David Bruner, attorney for the City of Guthrie Center