Thursday, September 07, 2006
Information comes with a hefty price
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Valerie Garner
Garner, of Roanoke, is chairwoman of the Countryside Neighborhood Alliance.
The editorial "Open government for everyone" in The Roanoke Times on Aug. 23 reminded me of my experience with the Freedom of Information Act. FOIA on the surface seems like a good ol' American way of giving citizens access to our "open" form of government, be it local, state or federal. Yes, this citizens' right is just the ticket to make sure everything in our government is "open" for all citizens to scrutinize.
Not so fast. There are just a few caveats to this "free" information.
First, it is not "free."
"A public body may make reasonable charges not to exceed its actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, supplying or searching for the requested records."
The media generally get what they ask for without charge as governments are quick to want to set the record straight, spin, or whatever you choose to call it. However, should an ordinary citizen request information, it will cost you and cost you big if you don't know the rules.
Second, read the fine print of the FOIA when requesting information using this tool of democracy. Your government will charge you big bucks for their secrets -- excuse me, I mean "information" -- that we citizens should not trouble our small, deficient minds about.
Third, always and I mean always request an estimate of charges.
"All charges for the supplying of requested records shall be estimated in advance at the request of the citizen."
If you do not request an estimate of charges, you can be billed for time spent by the employee (their hourly rate, lunch and college tuition) searching for the information. The copying is usually a minimal charge depending on the size of the document. For example, a map will cost you more. If your search is for very old information resulting in computer data retrieval from archives, it will also really cost you.
There is one safeguard even if you fail to request an estimate. You must be notified if the cost will exceed $200. You may be required to pay a $200 deposit. Though this is meant to safeguard your wallet, the effect is that the $200 is used as a deterrent. Basically, they hope you will just go away. I have received two of these deterrents: one from Roanoke Regional Airport and one from Virginia Department of Aviation.
Another example would be when I requested from various entities of our Roanoke city government information regarding the Countryside Golf Course property purchase and the negotiations that transpired.
My request to Roanoke City Planning cost estimate was about $21. OK, not bad. My request to the city attorney resulted in my going down to the municipal building and copying a few documents at 90 cents -- a bargain. The real bargain came from our dear retiring city clerk, who printed my request on recycled paper for free.
However, there was one more request and estimate outstanding. The days ticked by with no response from the city manager. According to the FOIA, the request must be fulfilled in five days unless the party notifies the requestor that they need additional time to process the request within that period. Therefore I took it that Darlene Burcham had no information and that the Planning Department had furnished all that was available as eight to 10 days had gone by with no response.
Then, a big brown envelope appeared in my mailbox and surprise -- documents and an invoice from Burcham for $169. No prior estimate as was requested.
I then asked Burcham and the city attorney, Bill Hackworth, that the fee be waived due to not first receiving an estimate before fulfilling the request.
After some back and forth, I provided the section of code regarding this requirement and the penalties for ignoring the provision. Finally, I was forgiven the $169, but with a stern warning from our city manager to "please be advised that any FOIA request to me, or my office, will require my personal review of e-mails and files at the hourly rate noted on the earlier invoice." That is a charge of $75 an hour to provide the so-called "Freedom of Information."
Be prepared to accept the curse of the knowing after you receive the information. Your faith in the government entity may be shaken.
