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C <br />LEE COUNTY <br />croo4a oca�a oao <br />Committed Today for a Better Tomorrow <br />LEE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: November 14, 2011 <br />ITEM NO. V. D. <br />XX Information & Discussion <br />_ Action Item <br />Consent Agenda <br />SUBJECT Lee County Public Records Request Policy <br />DEPARTMENT Governing Body <br />CONTACT PERSON Commissioner Jim Womack <br />REQUEST Discuss Possible Changes to the County's Public Records Request <br />Policy and Procedures <br />SUMMARY The Board of Commissioners last updated its Public Records Request <br />Policy in 2008. Recent changes to the county's copier contracts have reduced the cost of <br />photocopying to .03 per page (.04 including paper costs), which should alter the charge assessed for <br />public records disclosure. The language of the policy probably should be changed to reflect that the <br />requestor will be charged the rate the county is presently paying for photocopying if the page count <br />exceeds 25 pages. <br />In addition, the recent increase of large, unbounded public records requests is stressing the county's <br />ability to meet its disclosure capabilities under the current policy. Some of these requests require the <br />compilation, review, and release of thousands of documents and files, each of which must be located <br />and then examined to ensure the document's contents permit release to the general public. This is a <br />taxing process and can consume many hours of senior level staff time. <br />NC General Statutes (in particular 132 -1, et. seq.) govern what the county must provide in response to <br />citizen requests, leaving some latitude for local governments to assess reasonable fees for public <br />records disclosures. A number of other statutes restrict or deny release of certain documents for <br />reasons of confidentiality or privacy. The School of Government has informed us they know of no <br />case law modifying or clarifying information in the NC General Statutes. <br />Commissioners have requested that county staff create a cover sheet to be attached to each public <br />records request for the purpose of capturing the total time and cost of each such request for future <br />planning and budgetary purposes. <br />BUDGET IMPACT Not yet determined <br />ATTACHMENT(S) Current Public Records Request Policy and Procedures <br />PUBLIC HEARING No <br />PRIOR BOARD ACTION Approved by the BOC on July 21, 2008 <br />RECOMMENDATION Discussion only to determine the will of the Board <br />