County Policy: Open Records Requests

SCOPE:

All employees under the Board of County Commissioners and the County Manager. May apply to the Assessor, Clerk and Recorder, Coroner, District Attorney, Public Trustee, Sheriff, Surveyor, and Treasurer, if specifically adopted by that elected office.

PURPOSE:

To provide guidance to County employees regarding how to communicate to the public regarding public records requests and how to respond to the requests.

BOARD DIRECTIVE:

Adams County is committed to the principle of open and accessible government and shall fulfill every request for public records as efficiently and expeditiously as possible and within the requirements established by the Colorado Open Records Act, C.R.S. § 24-72-201 et seq. (“CORA”).

As allowed by C.R.S. § 24-72-205(6)(b), when the director of research of the legislative council for Colorado adjusts the maximum hourly research and retrieval fee, the County Manager shall revise the Operational Expectation accordingly.

OPERATIONAL EXPECTATION:

The following procedures are intended to facilitate requests for public records responsibly and efficiently, to maintain the integrity of the County’s records, and to ensure the effective functioning of County departments. This policy is subject to interpretation by the Adams County Attorney’s Office. Requests for comment or for information not contained within existing County records should be directed to the Adams County Communications Department.

The records custodian for each department is responsible for responding to the requesting party in a timely manner. Responses will be provided in the format in which the documents are maintained whenever legally, technologically, or practically feasible. The requesting party will be notified if the requested documents are not available or if the records are not covered by CORA.

Responses to requests will include information currently in the possession of the County. Additionally, responses to requests will not include data that is automatically created, stored, or retained on an individual computer or on network equipment or servers, such as e-mail metadata that is not otherwise imprinted or stored as part of the visible content of an e-mail message, logs, web traffic statistics, browser cookies, browser cache, server logs, browser history, or firewall logs.

If review of original documents is requested, the records custodian may impose certain procedures to protect the integrity of the public record, including supervision by a County employee within the area where the records are stored and/or maintained. The records custodian may also establish a designated area or schedule for a particular time of day so as to not unduly disrupt the day-to-day activities of that specific office or department.

Requests received after the close of business will be considered to be received on the next business day.

The County will comply with the reasonable response timelines set forth in CORA. Every attempt will be made to fulfill open records requests within three (3) working days. If the request cannot be filled within three working days, the requestor will receive notice from the records custodian that additional time, up to seven (7) working days, will be necessary. These deadlines do not apply for records under the Criminal Justice Records Act, C.R.S. § 24-72-301 et seq.

FEES CHARGED:

Adams County seeks to meet public information requests in the most economical fashion possible. The fees charged by Adams County departments will be consistent with the provisions of CORA.

Standard fees for records requests include copy charges, research and retrieval time, and actual costs associated with fulfilling the request. Research and retrieval time may include, but is not limited to: actual costs involved in the gathering of documents, costs associated with specialized IT support, and staff time required to research, locate, retrieve, and review records, and create or run records in electronic or digital format. The nature of the request dictates the potential fees and costs incurred.

Pursuant to C.R.S. §24-72-205(6), there is no charge for the first hour of time for research and retrieval of records.

Requestors may not avoid required fees by making multiple or serial records requests. The records custodian may, in consultation with the County Attorney, treat serial or multiple requests from the same person, entity, or group, for documents related to the same or similar subject matter as a single request for purposes of assessing fees.

Copies

• • 8.5” x 11” – 25¢ per page
  • 11” x 17” – 25¢ per page
  • Greater than 11” x 17” – Actual cost of reproduction

Electronic Copies on CD

• • If the record exists in electronic format; $2 per CD, plus research and retrieval time
  • If the record has to be scanned; $2 per CD, plus research and retrieval time
  • If the record has to be printed and scanned; $2 per CD, plus research and retrieval time and a paper copy fee
  • BOCC Study Sessions or other audio recordings; $2 per CD, plus research and retrieval time

PDF Records Sent Via Email

• • If the record exists in electronic format; research and retrieval time
  • If the record has to be scanned to PDF; research and retrieval time
  • If the record has to be printed and scanned to PDF; research and retrieval time plus a paper copy fee

Research and Retrieval

• • One hour or less, no charge
  • More than one hour, $41.37 per hour
  • Mailing Expenses
  • Mailing Expenses, Actual Cost

Mailing Expenses

• • Mailing Expenses, Actual Cost

DEPOSITS:

If the fulfillment of a request is likely to incur fees in excess of one hour of research, the records custodian will attempt to provide the requesting party with an estimate of the likely fees to be generated in fulfilling the request. The County may require payment of the estimated fees prior to any staff time being expended on responding to the request.

Requesting parties will be responsible for any actual costs incurred in excess of the deposit and will be reimbursed for any estimated costs that are not actually incurred.

Requests that require IT staff to search email or other electronic records will require a deposit when IT estimates that the search will take longer than one hour of staff time.