A frequent tactic in the FOI game is the eye-popping fee for redaction and records preparation. I’d like to say this is an unusual price tag, but I’ve run across several similar stories in the past few months:
A group of taxpayers in the Rockwood School District has been told it must pay $18,005 for a public records request, prompting the group to ask the state auditor’s office to review the matter as part of an upcoming audit of the district.
On April 16, the group, which goes by the name Rockwood Stakeholders for Real Solutions, requested copies of 3½ months of emails sent to and from the district email accounts of School Board members, the board secretary, the superintendent and the president of the teachers union.
After informing the group that the request would involve thousands of pages of records, district spokeswoman Kim Cranston asked the group to be more specific.
The taxpayer group responded by saying it was seeking assurance that district email accounts weren’t used to solicit support for Prop R — a $43.2 million bond issue that failed at the polls April 3 — or to endorse any of the School Board candidates. Such activity could run afoul of election law.
Filed under: 5. Request strategies, 6. Overcoming denials, 7. Electronic records Tagged: | e-mail, fees, Missouri, St. Louis
Here’s a fun first step to reduce the pricetag: Remind the district that the request is for e-mails. There is no reason the district spokesperson should be thinking about this request as “thousands of pages of records” when it’s stored electronically. It’s 2012, time to embrace technology.