25FC:0192 Rachel Doyle vs. City of Rolfe - Investigative Report & Probable Cause Order

The Iowa Public Information Board

COMES NOW, Charlotte Miller, Executive Director for the Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB), and enters this Investigative Report:

On November 27, 2025, Rachel Doyle (“Complainant”) Brown filed formal complaint 25FC:0192, alleging City of Rolfe (“Respondent”) violated Iowa Code chapter 22.

The IPIB accepted this Complaint on February 19, 2026.

Facts

On October 18, 2025, Complainant submitted a records request Certified Copy of the Final Asbestos Abatement Report from the Respondent.

On October 29, 2025, Respondent emailed the Complainant acknowledging the request and indicated that it would charge a reasonable fee for costs of retrieval and copying of the report, noting that the record was in possession of a third-party vendor, Site Services. Respondent advised that an hour of time would be necessary for the production. Complainant was provided an invoice on October 30, 2025 for the totaling $28.50 for the production of records. The invoice provided the following:

• Records Request-Initial email received 10/18/25 (Saturday): 1 min

• 10/20/25: computer research, finding out who did the work and when it was done, asked questions of individuals who would remember project, dug through storage room for box that included the original invoice: 38 mins

• 10/20/25: I called and spoke to employee at Site Services, whom completed the work. He had to leave a message for the owner to return my call: 3mins

• 10/20/25: Site Services owner returned call. Asked for more info. Said the same individual had called and spoke to him asking for info. With over 40 yrs in the business, he has never had any request compare to this: 8 mins

• 10/21/25: Email received from Site Services containing their records: 1 min

• 10/29/25: Email correspondence with City attorney to form response: 2 mins

• 10/29/25: Response to Ms. Doyle informing of the fee required before sharing info: 1 mins

• 10/29/25: Email from Ms. Doyle asking for detailed receipt: 1 min

• 10/30/25: Invoice prep and response submitted: 10 mins

  Total time: 65 mins @ $28.50/hour

  SUB TOTAL $28.50

IPIB formally opened this complaint on February 19, 2026. Respondent submitted a response on February 23, 2026 providing the above invoice and indicating that they are unlikely the custodians of the requested report because it was made by Site Services to for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Respondent indicated that the cost of retrieval was based upon IPIB’s Advisory Opinion 22AO:0003.

Applicable Law

“Although fulfillment of a request for a copy of a public record may be contingent upon receipt of payment of reasonable expenses, 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. 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 fee for the copying service as determined by the lawful custodian shall not exceed the actual cost of providing the service. Actual costs shall include only those reasonable expenses directly attributable to supervising the examination of and making and providing copies of public records. Actual costs 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. Costs for legal services should only be utilized for the redaction or review of legally protected confidential information.” Iowa Code § 22.3(2).

Analysis

The question is whether the fee was unreasonable. Iowa Code § 22.3 is clear that governmental bodies can charge reasonable fees for the production of public records and can produce the public records contingent upon receipt of payment. The requested record in question was not a record readily available to the government body. The government body was not in possession of the record at the time of the request. The government body had to reach out to a number of different persons in an effort to comply with Complainant’s record request. They provided a timeframe for retrieval to the complainant upon acknowledgement and also estimated reasonable fees for production of the record that were the direct and actual costs for the time spent producing the requested record. Respondent charged the hourly rate of the employee producing the record.

The Code merely requires the actual costs to the government body for retrieving and providing the records. Respondent stated the actual costs of performing the search and pull of the records was one hour of employee time to search and produce the records.

Additionally, Iowa Code § 22.3(2) provides that reasonable expenses based on “actual costs” incurred by the government body may be charged to a requester as a condition of production even if this impacts the requester. “[R]etrieval fees may in fact hamper access to public documents. However, such fees may also ensure continuing access to public records through increased funding and deterring excessive or overly broad requests. In any event, weighing these policy interests is for the general assembly. [citation omitted] We hold that in allowing for the recovery of expenses incurred in fulfilling requests for public records, Iowa Code section 22.3(1) authorizes reasonable fees for the time spent by the custodian or its employees in fulfilling the request.” Teig v. Chavez, 8 N.W.3d 484, 497 (Iowa 2024).

Based on the request and the breakdown from Respondent, the fees requested for the retrieval of the records appears direct, actual and reasonable. 

IPIB Action

The Board may take the following actions upon receipt of a probable cause report:

1. Redirect the matter for further investigation;
2. Dismiss the matter for lack of probable cause to believe a violation has occurred;
3. Make a determination that probable cause exists to believe a violation has occurred, but, as an exercise of administrative discretion, dismiss the matter; or
4. Make a determination that probable cause exists to believe a violation has occurred, designate a prosecutor and direct the issuance of a statement of charges to initiate a contested case proceeding.

Iowa Admin. Code r. 497-2.2(4).

Recommendation

Because the fee estimate reflects the actual, direct and reasonable costs of producing the asbestos report, there no violation of Chapter 22 and it is recommended IPIB dismiss the matter for lack of probable cause to believe a violation has occurred.

By the IPIB Executive Director,

__________________________
Charlotte J.M. Miller, J.D.

CERTIFICATE OF MAILING

This document was sent on May 15, 2026, to:

Rachel Doyle, Complainant

Brian Yung, for City of Rolfe, Respondent

The Iowa Public Information Board

Under Iowa Admin. Code r. 497-2.2(4) the Board takes the following action:

☐a. Redirect the matter for further investigation;

☒b. Dismiss the matter for lack of probable cause to believe a violation has occurred;

☐c. Make a determination that probable cause exists to believe a violation has occurred, but, as an exercise of administrative discretion, dismiss the matter; or

☐d. Make a determination that probable cause exists to believe a violation has occurred, designate a prosecutor and direct the issuance of a statement of charges to initiate a contested case proceeding.

By the Board Chair

___________________________________

Catherine Lucas

CERTIFICATE OF MAILING

This document was sent on May 22, 2026, to:

Rachel Doyle, Complainant

City of Rolfe, Respondent