The Iowa Public Information Board
In re the Matter of: Zachary Vulich, Complainant And Concerning: City of Leland, Respondent |
Case Number: 24FC:0018 Acceptance Order
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COMES NOW, Erika Eckley, Executive Director for the Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB), and enters this Acceptance Order:
On February 13, 2024, Zachary Vulich filed formal complaint 24FC:0018, alleging that City of Leland (“City”) violated Iowa Code chapter 22.
Facts
Mr. Vulich alleges the City is charging an unreasonable fee for the production of records he requested. In response to the Complaint, the City provided the request made and communications with Mr. Vulich.
The records request included:
- all meeting documents from October 2019 through December 2023: City estimates this would be approximately 380 pages scanned.
- Copies of City Council meeting recordings: City states there are three.
- Copies of council oaths of office and ethics: City estimates approximately 30 pages
- Copies of City Council insurance and bond information: City estimates approximately 100 pages scanned.
Originally, the City had a fee of $24 per hour for records requests. After discussion with IPIB, the City revised the cost to reflect the City Clerk’s actual hourly cost of $20 per hour.[1]
The City estimated it would take approximately twelve hours to produce and review documents and another four hours to scan and copy the documents to a thumb drive. The estimate also states that if the actual time spent on compiling and producing the records is less, a refund of the difference.
Mr. Vulich still disagreed with the estimated costs and believes compiling and producing the records should not take more than two to four hours. He believes the estimated costs are excessive.
The City explained that the meeting documents were in physical books and would take time to collect and scan as well as the time to pull and review the other documents.
Applicable Law
Iowa Code § 22.3(2) allows a government body to charge a fee for the release of records, based upon actual costs. Actual costs are defined to include “only those expenses directly attributable to supervising the examination of and making and providing of copies of public records.”
Analysis
There is no dispute that the City is able to charge for the actual costs of compiling, scanning, and producing the records. The issue in this case is the estimated time and costs from the City. The facts are that all of the documents requested are typical public documents that are required to be produced and retained and should be readily available and accessible to the City in the general course of City business. The records sought are City Council meeting documents, oaths of office, recordings of meetings, and City insurance information. None of these are likely to need much, if any redaction or review based on the nature of the documents.
While it can be difficult many times to determine a reasonable amount of time to collect, review, and produce public records based on the specific resources and equipment available to a City, sixteen hours does seem like an excessive amount of time estimated for completing this specific request based on the nature of the records sought.
Conclusion
Iowa Code § 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 meets the necessary requirements for acceptance.
The City’s estimate for the time required to compile and scan the City’s meeting documents does not seem reasonable under these specific facts.
IT IS SO ORDERED: Formal complaint 24FC:0018 is accepted pursuant to Iowa Code § 23.8(1) and Iowa Administrative Rule 497-2.1(2)(a).
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 April 18, 2024. 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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Erika Eckley, J.D.
[1] Mr. Vulich objected to this amount as the clerk’s previous hourly rate was $16.30 as disclosed pursuant to a previous request. See 23FC:0120 Zachary Vulich/City of Leland – Dismissal Order. The City provided the City Council minutes from December 14, 2023, reflecting the clerk’s rate of pay increase to $20 per hour beginning January 1, 2024.