Council Action Requested:
Review the process and fee structure proposed for the County to fulfill Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
Points to Consider:
All local governments across the country have some type of Freedom of Information Act that they must adhere to, by which the public can obtain government documents and electronic communications. South Carolina local governments must comply with South Carolina Code Ann. 30-4-10 et seq which requires public business to be performed in an open and public manner and for citizens to request public documents.
The South Carolina law establishes prescribed timelines by which acknowledgement and responses must be provided to the requestor, plus what types of information has to be provided and disclosed, and in what format. It also delineates what information can be withheld or redacted. Furthermore, it provides for the ability to charge for staff time utilized to address FOIA requests.
The Sheriff's Office receives the most FOIA requests of any department, which is coordinated by its Public Information Officer. Generally the rest of the FOIA requests are addressed by the Clerk to Council and now the County Attorney.
The County Attorney and Sheriff's Office are utilizing a new software to streamline, archive, and partially automate the FOIA request process. As part of this process, we are structuring and outlining the entire process to better help requesters navigate the system. As part of this, we will now include the fee structure, by which Counties can charge for the time involved in satisfying a FOIA request. The fee structure varies by the hourly pay rate of the assigned person in each department to produce the FOIA requested document. An example of how hourly rates are charged by each County department is attached. Similar pay information, but specific to Lancaster County and each department is in the development stage and will be identified in the budget ordinance as one of the many fees established by the County.
Funding and Liability Factors:
Past FOIA requests for non-Sheriff's Office were generally addressed by the Clerk to Council and the outside legal counsel, with support from their paralegal. Monthly bills for outside legal counsel support to review and provide the official response to FOIA requests would vary per month depending upon volume and the nature of the request.
That expense has been eliminated with the hiring of the County Attorney.
The County is in a position to recoup the cost of responding to FOIA requests, as rarely in the past did we charge for the staff time involved in researching, redacting and producing the documents related to a FOIA request, a task which would take away from the time they were available to perform their daily duties. The new streamlined process and web-based functions will be automatic and publicize the payment component of the FOIA legislation.
Recommendation:
Provide feedback on the automatic FOIA process and fee structure.