Responses to Survey of Local Public Bodies in Calhoun County Regarding Fees
Under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (MCL § 15.231 et seq) – thru 3/5/11
The full text of my July 4 survey is posted here in HTML format, and here as a PDF file (2 pages long). Here’s a key to the questions:
1. Procedures and Guidelines for Charging Fees to Fulfill FOIA Requests
A. Please provide a copy of your current FOIA procedures and guidelines. In what forms or formats do you make them available?
B. When were they originally adopted? How often do they say you will review them? What is your actual practice on this?
2. Statutorily Mandated Calculation of Maximum FOIA Fee Permissible
Please provide a copy of your current FOIA fee schedule and other information needed to explain what you charge FOIA requesters.
3. Actual Incremental Cost
A. Current formula/process to calculate “actual incremental cost” and identify/exclude non-incremental costs, basis for figures used.
B. When was the last time you updated this calculation? How often do your FOIA procedures and guidelines say you will update it?
4. Waiver or Reduction of Fee for Requests in the Public Interest
A. What do your FOIA procedures & guidelines say about waiving/reducing FOIA fees on this basis? What is your actual practice?
B. How many requests for fee waiver or reduction have you received, how many have you denied, and why/on what basis?
5. First $20 of Fee Waived for Indigents or Public-Assistance Recipients
A. What do your FOIA procedures & guidelines say about such waivers? What is your actual practice on this?
B. How many indigent/public-assistance fee waiver requests have you received, how many have you denied, and why/on what basis?
6. Deposit May Be Required if Total Fee Will Be Over $50
A. What do your FOIA procedures & guidelines say about such “good faith” deposits? What is your actual practice on this?
B. How do you make sure the deposit you request isn’t more than half the total fee? (Do you have rounding-down rules? If so, what?)
7. Hourly Rate for Labor Charged
A. What do your FOIA procedures & guidelines say about how you determine the lowest-paid capable employee?
B. How often do you review your determinations of the employees and of the rates you charge for their labor?
8. Uniform Fees
A. What do your FOIA procedures & guidelines say about fees being independent of the requester’s identity? What is your actual practice?
B. How do you check to make sure you are applying your fee schedule, procedures and guidelines, etc. uniformly to all requesters?
9. Most Economical Means for Making Copies
A. How do you make sure you’re using the most economical means of copying? How often do you review or update this determination?
B. If you use different means for different requests, on what basis do you decide which means to use for which requests?
10. “Unreasonably High Costs” Threshold to Charge for Most Types of Labor
A. How do your procedures and guidelines define, identify, and calculate “unreasonably high costs”? What is your actual practice
on this? When is the last time you reviewed/updated those procedures and guidelines, or analyzed that actual practice?
B. How many appeals of labor charges for FOIA requests have you received, how many have you denied, and why/on what basis?
The answers below are all that I have received as of the date indicated above. If a public body has not yet provided an answer to a question, no answer is indicated below. If a general response of some kind has been made, that is indicated below as well. In case you want or need to look at what information a public body has provided previously about its FOIA practices, links to those pages are provided here (HTML) and here (PDF).
I will continue to update this page as information comes in. (My original survey request was not phrased as a FOIA request itself, so there was no deadline for responses – but I did want to start posting information before the end of July.)
Thanks to everyone who gave time and effort to help provide this information to the public. John Anthony La Pietra <jalp@triton.net>
Calhoun County
(No response yet.)
Cities
City of Albion
2/7A: “. . . we charge $0.05 per copy which covers the cost of the paper and the use of the copier. We also charge the lowest hourly clerical rate of the person who would be capable of handling the request.” (from city manager Mike Herman, e-mail 2/7/11)
City of Battle Creek . . . response by e-mail from Deidre A. Laser, City Clerk (dated 7/6)
2: “Our fees are published in our Fee, Bond and Insurance Schedule. The next one will be approved at the July 13. 2010, agenda. You can access it on our website at www.battlecreekmi.gov.”
NOTES: The 56-page schedule presently posted on the City’s Website is dated July 21, 2009; page 8 lists some FOIA- fee basis rate factors. An update to this schedule was on the August 10, 2010 agenda; I do not have confirmation that the update was adopted, but it appears to have the same rate factors as in the 2009 schedule (again on page 8):
a. Clerk Labor $ 4.61 per ¼ hr. c. Postage Current rate
b. Copy rate $ .10 per page d. Cassette (dubbing)$ 2.00
City of Marshall
(City has not responded to the survey, but it did adopt a new FOIA policy statement January 3, 2011.)
City of Springfield . . . response by e-mail from Franklin Peterson, City Manager (dated 7/6)
General: “Nothing has changed for Springfield.”
Townships
Albion Township
(No response yet.)
Athens Township
(No response yet.)
Bedford Charter Township
(No response yet.)
Burlington Township
(No response yet.)
Clarence Township . . . response by e-mail from Sheryl Proteau, Township Clerk (dated 7/26)
General: “John, after the election I will try and get this done for you.”
Clarendon Township
(No response yet.)
Convis Township
(No response yet.)
Eckford Township . . . response by e-mail from Kimberly Hinkley, Township Clerk (dated 7/6)
General: “Nothing has changed in our policy etc. since the last survey you did on this subject. I will echo Emmett Twp. is saying this is very bad timing to want this information especially for part-time Clerks who are trying to implement not only Primary Election AV's etc. but all the new things from the State and Feds. I will look at your survey and reply as soon as possible.”
Emmett Charter Township . . . response by e-mail from Gloria J. Maichele, Township Clerk (dated 7/6)
General: “This survey is one that will take a certain amount of time above and beyond our regular work. We are in the midst of A Primary Election. I will attempt to get at this when I have some extra time. Your timing couldn't have been worse for All of we Clerks.”
Fredonia Township
(No response yet.)
Homer Township . . . response by e-mail from Jennifer Johnson, Township Clerk (dated 7/7)
General: “Please find attached the information you requested.” (Four files were attached, all from 1999; one was a “Fee Structure Resolution”.)
2/7A: From the 1999 fee-structure resolution: “COPIES[:] [$].20 per page . . . COMPUTER DISKS: $2.00 per disk . . . MAILING[:] Cost of current postal rates & mailing materials . . . HOURLY LABOR WAGE: $10.00 per hour[.]”
5A: “If an individual submits an affidavit stating that he or she is receiving public assistance or is able to state facts showing inability to pay fees because of indigence, a copy of a public record shall be furnished without charge for the first $20.00 of the fee for each request.”
6A: “If the anticipated charges for a requested record will exceed $50, a good faith deposit of one-half of the total anticipated charges shall be required.”
Lee Township . . . response by e-mail from Rick Boesen, Township Clerk (dated 7/6)
General: “The balance of the information you requested should be available in the Lee Twp records. You are welcome to make an appointment to review and photocopy any all information available, at the Lee Twp Hall.”
2: “If you can provide a fax number, it would be the easiest way for me to send you the Lee Twp FOIA Fee Schedule.”
(NOTE: My PC’s ability to receive faxes is limited to my being there and knowing that a fax is coming, so I can plug the phone line into it and tell its fax software to take the next call as a fax – so it takes some arranging to do. I sent Mr. Boesen an e-mail on 7/25 thanking him for his response so far, and explaining what faxing to me would involve.)
Leroy Township
(No response yet.)
Marengo Township
(No response yet.)
Marshall Township
(No response yet.)
Newton Township . . . response by e-mail from Mary Aldrich, Township Clerk (dated 7/10)
General: “Regarding your request, it is time for the August Primary Election and there is a lot of work for the clerks to take care of at this time, but I will try to give you the information to the best of my ability. We are a rural township with about 2000 registered voters. Our officials are part-time with few established office hours. Most meetings are done by appointment. We have had very few FOIA requests. . . .”
1A: “. . . I have attached our Policy & Procedure that was adopted March 14, 2006. We have been reviewing Newton Townships Policy & Procedure Manual, but have not completed the task. . . .”
2/9A: “. . . At this time when I receive a request, I follow the State of Michigans FOIA statute, I answer the request electronically when possable, and do not charge a fee, but this may change in the future. I hope this answers all of your questions.”
Pennfield Charter Township
(No response yet.)
Sheridan Township
(No response yet.)
Tekonsha Township
(No response yet.)
Villages
Athens Village
(No response yet.)
Burlington Village
(No response yet.)
Homer Village
(No response yet.)
Tekonsha Village
(No response yet.)
Schools
Kellogg Community College . . . response by e-mail from Jamie Kline, Executive Assistant to the President (dated 7/18; first reply 7/15)
General: “I have attached KCC's FOIA Policy and our guidelines for FOIA processing as well as our worksheet. I believe you will find the information you requested in each of these documents. Should you need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.”
2/3A/8A: “Copy fees will be charged at the rate of $.25 per sheet. . . . The College may charge the exact cost of postage, envelopes, or other containers used for mailing copies of the requested public records. . . .”
3A/7A/9A: “If a person requests that copies be made of photographs, audio or videotapes, microforms, maps or plans or large documents which must be copied off-site, the FOIA Coordinator will determine and assess those costs. If an employee of the public body is required to deliver and/or pick up the public records or copies of public records, the labor hours spent and applicable mileage (at current College rates) will also be applied to the charges to the person(s) requesting the public records.”
6A: “If the FOIA Coordinator determines that the anticipated total cost will exceed $50.00, a deposit will be required in advance of compilation of the public records. The deposit will be 50% of the total anticipated cost. In the event a deposit is required, the FOIA Coordinator will not begin compilation of the public records until the deposit is received. The cost will be determined with the completion of a Freedom of Information Worksheet for Determination of Charges prior to the compilation of the requested public record(s).”
7A: “The College may charge the cost of labor as permitted by the Act and determined by the FOIA Coordinator based on Section 15.234 of the Act, using the wages of the lowest paid, full-time public body employee capable of retrieving the records requested.”
Local public school systems:
Calhoun Intermediate School District
(No response yet.)
Albion Public Schools
(No response yet.)
Athens Area Schools
(No response yet.)
Battle Creek Public Schools . . . response by e-mail from Marti Ellerby, Secretary to Asst. Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction (dated 7/6)
General: “Your request has been forwarded to the School Board's secretary, Nichole Greene.”
Bellevue Community Schools
(No response yet.)
Harper Creek Community Schools . . . response by e-mail from Gail Braman, Executive Secretary to the Superintendent (dated 7/29)
1A: “Attached please find Harper Creek Community Schools' policy regarding FOIA information.” (Provided in Microsoft Word format.)
2: “The Superintendent shall charge a fee to cover actual costs of providing access to and/or copies of public records in accord with law.”
Homer Community Schools . . . response by e-mail from Martha Robinson, Secretary to Superintendent (dated 8/3)
General: “Homer Community Schools follows the Michigan Freedom of Information Act and charges $.10 per copy and $20.00 an hour for time spent working on a FOIA.”
Lakeview School District
(No response yet.)
Mar-Lee Schools . . . response by e-mail from William LeTarte, Superintendent (dated 7/12)
2/3A/7A/10A: “Generally the Mar Lee School does not charge unless the time required, or cop[i]es required are excessive then we charge $15.00/ hr. and/or $0.10 copy.”
Marshall Public Schools . . . response by letter from Dr. Randy Davis, Superintendent (dated 7/13; received 7/17)
General: “The information you requested may be found in the District’s policy regarding FOIA. . . .”
1A: FOIA policy (#8310) “may be found by visiting the district’s web site at: http://www.marshall.k12.mi.us/“ (instructions on how to find the policy from that page are given).
2: Fees “based on current prevailing rates as described in Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act and based on the U.S. Government.”
3A/7A: “Reproduction fee $.10 per page + clerical costs $15.89 per hour (based on the current lowest paid secretarial hourly district costs).”
Olivet Community Schools
(No response yet.)
Pennfield Schools
(No response yet.)
Tekonsha Community Schools
(No response yet.)
Union City Community Schools
(No response yet.)
Local charter schools (public school academies):
Arbor Academy/Battle Creek
(No response yet.)
Endeavor Charter Academy
(No response yet.)
Marshall Academy . . . response by e-mail from Brent Swan, Headmaster (dated 7/11)
General: “MA charges no fees for FOIA requests at this time.”
(NOTE: If a public body does not charge fees for FOIA requests, it does not need procedures or guidelines on how it calculates them – which also eliminates the need to address several of the other questions.)
Public Libraries
Albion District Library
(No response yet.)
Athens Community Library
(No response yet.)
Burlington Township Library
(No response yet.)
Homer Public Library
(No response yet.)
Marshall District Library . . . response by e-mail from Laurie St. Laurent, Director (dated 7/6)
General: “FOIA requests are promptly responded to in writing and/or electronically.”
2: “Any costs to the requestor are spelled out in the initial response. . . .”
3A/7A/10A: “Response to any FOIA request that takes less than 15 minutes to complete is considered free of cost to the requestor. Responses requiring more than 15 minutes of staff time to process, printing, photocopying, and/or mailing charges, are billed at the actual rate of cost. Employee pay rates are used to calculate the cost of staff time.”
6A: “. . . payment of [FOIA] costs must be received prior to the delivery of the requested information.”
Tekonsha Township Public Library
(No response yet.)
Willard Public Library . . . response by e-mail from Leah Dodd, Assistant Director (dated 7/8)
1A: “Attached please find the FOIA Policy from the Willard Library Board of Trustees Policy Manual.”
(NOTES: The policy has no date itself, but the pages say the manual was updated Jaunary 2006. No fee schedule is stated.)
4A/8A: “At the discretion of the Library Director, charges may be waived if providing the service free is in the public interest.”
5A: “No charge for the first $20.00 of a fee may be made to an individual who proves indigence to [sic; or?] receipt of public assistance. State guidelines for providing free and reduced cost meals to families shall be used as guidelines for determining indigence. . . .”
As you can see, some of the local clerks I contacted were unhappy that I put out this survey at this particular time in an election year. Of course, I wasn’t trying to cause anybody any problems; I was just celebrating a freedom-related holiday by going into a bit more detail in providing the public with information on the subject of a freedom I particularly value. And I didn’t and don’t presume that a public body which hasn’t responded yet to the survey won’t do so later. I hope everyone will. Anyway, let me take this opportunity to thank those who have responded already – and to assure you all that I expect to keep updating this page as more and newer information comes in. Meanwhile, here again is my invitation to the public bodies of Calhoun County:
Please send me your answers via e-mail if you can, preferably in
plain text or Adobe Acrobat PDF file format. My e-mail address is:
If you don’t have e-mail, please mail a hard copy of your answers to:
I thank you for the information we will provide the public on my Website:
John Anthony La Pietra; 386 Boyer Ct; Marshall, MI 49068