24FC:0018 Zachary Vulich/City of Leland - Informal Resolution Report

Date:
07/18/2024

Subject:
Zachary Vulich/City of Leland - Informal Resolution Report

Opinion:

The Iowa Public Information Board

COMES NOW, Erika Eckley, Executive Director for the Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB), and enters this Informal Resolution Report: 

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:

1. all meeting documents from October 2019 through December 2023: City estimates this would be approximately 380 pages scanned. 
2. Copies of City Council meeting recordings: City states there are three.
3. Copies of council oaths of office and ethics: City estimates approximately 30 pages
4. 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.

Informal Resolution Terms

The Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB) accepted the complaint on April 18, 2024.  Pursuant to Iowa Code section 23.9, the parties have agreed upon the following terms for an informal resolution of this matter:

1. Mr. Vulich will provide the specifics (including the dates, documents, whether documents need to be official or can be unofficial and individuals involved) regarding the records request involved in this matter to the City within seven (7) days. IPIB will be copied in on this information.
2. Mr. Vulich will provide payment for four hours of work at Ms. Arispe’s hourly rate of $20/hour ($80) for collection of the records.  Mr. Vulich will also provide an unopened thumb drive to be used to transfer the records electronically to him. IPIB will be notified when this has been done.
3. Upon payment, the City will provide the records in electronic form, these will be provided on the provided jump drive, which is the most efficient way to provide all of the documents and recordings electronically based on the file sizes. If the information is available and collected in less than four hours, any remaining deposit paid by Mr. Vulich will be refunded. If the retrieval and scanning of the records takes longer than four hours, the city will not charge Mr. Vulich any additional fees. IPIB will be copied in on all communications and information.
4. The City will conduct Open Meetings and Public Records training at an open meeting with notice to the public. This training will be conducted by the Iowa Public Information Board. This will be scheduled by the City and IPIB will be notified when this is scheduled and completed. The City will contact IPIB to schedule this training. There is no charge for the training.
5. The City will review its policies and procedures for responding to records requests to ensure it complies with Iowa Code chapter 22, specifically the ability to collect the actual costs of collecting and copying documents and make all necessary changes to any existing policies.
6. The City will approve this agreement at an open meeting and provide a copy of this Informal Resolution in full with its meeting minutes.

The City of Leland approved this Informal Resolution on June 26, 2024, and provided documentation of the adoption and signature to IPIB on June 27, 2024.

Mr. Vulich signed this Informal Resolution on July 10, 2024.

All terms of this Informal Resolution shall be completed within 60 days of the date of approval of this Informal Resolution by all parties. Upon showing proof of compliance, the IPIB will dismiss this complaint as successfully resolved.

By the IPIB Executive Director

_________________________

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.