25FC:0022 Steve St. Clair/Winneshiek County and City of Ossian - Informal Resolution Report

Date:
05/15/2025

Subject: 
Steve St. Clair/Winneshiek County and City of Ossian  - Informal Resolution Report

Opinion:

The Iowa Public Information Board

Complaint 25FC:0022 was opened on February 17, 2025, and accepted via consent by the IPIB on March 20, 2025. This Informal Resolution is adopted in response to the IPIB acceptance of the complaint.

Background

On August 16, 2024, St. Clair sent identical requests for information to Winneshiek County (County) and the City of Ossian (City). The subject of St. Clair’s request was Dan Langreck, who serves as both a member of the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors and a member of the Ossian City Council. St. Clair inquired how much he would be charged for a copy of all communications in which Langreck participated in his capacity as a county supervisor and a member of the Ossian City Council from January 1, 2024 to August 16, 2024.

Langreck responded on August 23 and indicated he was working to get estimates to produce the records from the County and City. On August 30, Langreck outreached to St. Clair asking for a more specific request and indicating the cost would be high. On the same date, St. Clair reiterated his request and indicated he wanted to know the projected cost so that he could determine whether to limit the request to make it more affordable.

St. Clair followed up requesting the information on September 12, September 20, and October 4.

On October 6, Langreck provided an estimate for the County. Langreck indicated, “County emails cost $100.00 dollars. Anything on my personal phone will be at a rate of $75.00 dollars a hour.” Langreck indicated a $500 deposit would be required to produce the County records. The same date, St. Clair followed up requesting specifics for how to pay and the estimate for City records. Langreck followed up on October 13 and indicated City records would also require a $500 deposit to produce. St. Clair promptly paid both deposits.

Over the months of October, November, December, and January, multiple communications occurred in which St. Clair attempted to collect records and understand the status of his requests. The City Clerk indicated records were complete on October 29, but that the records only included Langreck’s communications with the City Clerk. St. Clair continued to work to receive Langreck’s City communications.

County records did not materialize until St. Clair outreached to IT personnel for the County in January.

After St. Clair received what he believed to be the final installment of records in January, he requested an accounting from the County and City for the production of records and any refunds owed him. This initiated a chaotic set of communications with little clarity or accounting on costs charged to St. Clair.

These are examples of responses received by St. Clair:

• City’s Response: “The hourly rate for Dan’s [Langreck’s] time is at his request. We do not have any documentation that help determine the hourly rate.”
• County’s Response: “I was instructed by Dan Langreck to charge $100 per hour for the time spent by each employee gathering the information, so that is what I notified you.” The County went on to state, “That being said…If you calculate the actual salary expense of each employee (salary, FICA, IPERS, health insurance, and life insurance) most employees’ costs work out to be $50-$75 per hour depending on their salary. Then calculating the use of county equipment (computers, phones, etc.), I don't think $100 per hour is unreasonable."

Ultimately, the City refunded $275 of the $500 deposit. The County refunded $300 of the $500 deposit.

Upon acceptance of this case, the County responded to the delay in production of records and indicated the process was involved and time consuming as it related to records on Langreck’s private devices. The County did not provide a specific response to the costs of production, other than a good faith estimate was provided in light of the time commitment to produce the records.

The City responded and attempted to justify costs by stating, “The charges were based off of the city clerk’s hourly wage, including the employer’s contribution to employment costs, the extra time that was incurred and paid to the clerk, copies and postage. The city councilperson’s involvement was considered to equivalent to attending a city council meeting, which is a flat $50.00 payment to the councilperson. Clerk pay is $25.00/hour.” The City also acknowledged that Langreck had some issues sorting out his phone information.

Applicable Law

Iowa Code Chapter 22 governs the facts of this complaint. 

• The lawful custodian shall make every reasonable effort to provide the public record requested at no cost other than copying costs for a record which takes less than thirty minutes to produce. Iowa Code § 22.3(1).
• In the event expenses are necessary, such expenses shall be reasonable and communicated to the requester upon receipt of the request. Iowa Code § 22.3(1).
• The lawful custodian may charge a reasonable fee for the services of the lawful custodian or the custodian’s authorized designee in supervising the examination and copying of the records, but the fee for the copying service shall not exceed the actual cost of providing the service. Iowa Code § 22.3(2).
• Actual costs shall include only those reasonable expenses directly attributable to supervising the examination of and making and providing copies of public records and shall not include charges for ordinary expenses or costs such as employment benefits, depreciation, maintenance, electricity, or insurance associated with the administration of the office of the lawful custodian. Iowa Code § 22.3(2).

• Iowa caselaw allows for relief to a requestor when an unreasonable delay occurs. Belin v. Reynolds, 989 N.W. 2d 166, 174 (Iowa 2023). Unreasonable delay in the production of public records pursuant to Iowa Code Chapter 22 requires an analysis that includes how promptly the lawful custodian acknowledged the request and follow-up inquiries, whether the requestor was assured of the intent to provide the requested records, whether the governmental body explained why requested records were not immediately available, whether the governmental body produced records as they became available, whether the governmental body updated the requestor on efforts to obtain and produce records, and whether the governmental body provided information about when records could be expected. Belin, 989 N.W.2d at 175.

Informal Resolution

Pursuant to Iowa Code § 23.9, the parties have either executed the Informal Resolution or have indicated the agreement will be addressed at a future meeting of the governmental body:

1. Each governmental body will acknowledge at an open meeting that there are sufficient facts to show the governmental body failed to produce records in compliance with Iowa Code Chapter 22. Each governmental body will specifically state as follows: “This governmental body acknowledges there are sufficient facts to demonstrate this governmental body failed to produce records in compliance with Iowa Code Chapter 22. Specifically, this governmental body failed to charge a reasonable fee for production of records based on actual costs and exhibited unreasonable delay in production of records.” This acknowledgement will be recorded in the minutes of said meetings and minutes will be provided to IPIB.
2. This Informal Resolution will be formally approved at a meeting of each governmental body and the minutes from each meeting will be provided to IPIB staff to demonstrate approval.
3. Each governmental body will refund Steve St. Clair the full amount paid for public records. The full amount is $500 minus the amount previously refunded.
4. All members of the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors and the Ossian City Council, including the Clerk for the City of Ossian, will complete training related to public meetings and records. This training will be arranged by each governmental body and conducted by IPIB, the Iowa League of Cities, or the Iowa State Association of Counties. The governmental bodies may merge the trainings into a joint training (consisting of both governmental bodies) if they choose to do so.
5. The Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors and the Ossian City Council will each develop policies or procedures to address the following:

• Fees charged for production of records, including rates and how rates are calculated. The policy or procedure must include rates for members of the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors (for the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors policies or procedures) and rates for members of the Ossian City Council (for the Ossian City Council policies or procedures). The policies or procedures must be compliant with Iowa Code Chapter 22.
• Retention requirements for public records located on private devices of governmental officials, including personal computers and personal cell phones.
• Response to requests for public records and production of public records that contains the requirements established in Belin v. Reynolds. 

Any developed policies or procedures will be provided to IPIB staff for review before approval by each governmental body.

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

Steve St. Clair approved this Informal Resolution on or about May 3, 2025.

Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors intend to approve this Informal Resolution on or about May 12, 2025.          

Ossian City Council intend to approve the Informal Resolution on or about June 2, 2025.

IPIB staff recommend the IPIB approve the Informal Resolution Report.

By the IPIB Deputy Director, 

_________________________

Kimberly M. Murphy, J.D.