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EGAB: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS, FEES, COSTS, AND CHARGES  

 

The Legislature of the State of Wyoming enacted the Wyoming Public Records Act (W.S. §16-4-201 through 16-4-205) in order to provide the public with access to public records, books, and files of state governmental agencies (subject to exceptions).  The purpose of the Act is to promote disclosure and not secrecy in the workings of government.  The District is subject to the Wyoming Public Records Act and will fully comply with all the provisions and requirements of the Act, which may be amended from time to time by the Wyoming legislature.

 

All record request must be made in writing to the District Superintendent’s office.  Individuals are only permitted to submit written record requests using one of the following methods:

  1.       Hand-delivered record requests shall be submitted in person to 537 10th Street, Evanston, WY 82931-6002;
  2.       Mailed record requests shall be mailed to 537 10th Street, Evanston, WY 82931-6002;
  3.       E-mailed record requests shall be sent electronically to [email protected]or
  4.       Faxed record requests shall be sent to (307) 789-6225;

 

The District Director of Technology is designated as the Custodian of Records and will coordinate an appropriate response to the request.

 

Upon receipt of the written record request, the Custodian of Records will acknowledge receipt   in writing to the applicant within three (3) business days. If the public records requested are not in the custody or control of the District, the Custodian of Records shall notify the applicant within seven (7) business days from the date of acknowledged receipt of the request of the unavailability of the records sought, unless good cause exists preventing a response within such time period.  If the public records requested are in the custody and control of the District but are in active use or in storage, and therefore not available at the time an applicant asks to examine them, the Custodian of Records having personal custody and control of the public records shall notify the applicant of this situation within seven (7) business days from the date of acknowledged receipt of the request, unless good cause exists preventing a response within such time period.

 

Pursuant to the Wyoming Public Records Act, the District will respond to requests within a reasonable time.  Broad requests and requests that span more than one (1) year may require a significant amount of District staff time to review and prepare the appropriate response.

 

The School District hereby establishes uniform procedures, fees, costs, and charges for inspection, copying, and production of public records. 

 

  1. Definitions:

 

  •         “Applicant” is the person that is making the public records request.

 

  •       “Clerical/support staff” are employees who generally perform office or administrative support duties. Clerical/support staff employees include secretaries and administrative assistants. 

 

  •       “Electronic public record” is a public record that is primarily or solely stored in an electronic format. Typically, the District will only be able to produce a copy of the original electronic public record due to the native format, security, and integrity of the original data or electronic record. 

 

  •      “Information technology staff” are employees who perform duties relating to retrieving, compiling, constructing, formatting, or extracting electronic public records located on computer systems, software, servers, or networks. Information technology staff employees may also perform computer programming or other computer services relating to electronic public records. 

 

  •       “Professional staff” are employees who are not clerical/support or information technology staff as defined herein. Professional staff employees perform administrative, managerial, or professional duties. 

 

  •       “Supervise copying” occurs if someone other than the District is allowed under W.S. 16-4-204(b) to make copies, printouts, or photographs. Under W.S. 16-4-204(b), the District is authorized to charge a reasonable fee to supervise the copying, printing out, or photographing if someone other than the District makes the copies, printouts or photographs.  The supervision fee shall be the hourly rates stated in section 2(c)(i) through (iii).  For instance, if clerical/support staff is required to supervise the copying, printing out or photographing, the hourly rate will be $15.50.

 

  1.       Electronic Public Records

 

  •       Production and Construction Costs.  Under W.S. 16-4-202(d)(i) the District shall charge an applicant the reasonable costs of producing and constructing a copy of an electronic public record for inspection and copying.  This cost may include, but is not limited to, the time spent retrieving, compiling, sorting, reviewing, redacting, formatting, converting, or copying the electronic public record, as well as activities required to create or construct a new electronic public record from existing sources and all associated programming and computer services. 

 

  •     Minimum Requirements to Charge Costs. Production and construction costs will be charged only if they exceed $100.00 (“the base”). If the costs exceed the base, only the amount over the base will be charged to the applicant.  If electronic production and/or construction costs for a request are less than or equal to the base, the applicant will not be charged any costs for production and/or construction of said electronic records. The base is a credit upon the total amount charged for the production and/or construction of electronic records. Applicants may not use multiple record requests to evade the base threshold.  The District has discretion to consolidate public records requests that it reasonably believes have been drafted and submitted to evade the base threshold. 

 

  •    Production and Construction Costs. Production and construction costs for electronic public records shall be as follows: 

 

  •            $15.50/hour for clerical staff time.

 

  •            $30.00/hour for information technology staff time.

 

  •            $40.00/hour for professional staff time.

 

  •             Actual cost of programming and computer services.

 

  •         Actual cost of necessary legal fees incurred to review documents to ensure protection of information that is classified as confidential by law.

 

  •    Payment.  The District must provide the applicant with an estimate of the reasonable costs of production and construction of the electronic public records.  The applicant must pre-pay the estimated costs before the District produces or constructs the electronic public records or provides any copies for inspection.  Payment shall be made to the District.  If the District reaches the limit of the payment by the applicant, the District will produce the records that are ready and available at that point and will provide an additional estimate pursuant to this subsection prior to continuing with the request. 

 

  •      Refund. If the District estimates and receives costs exceeding the actual time required to produce and construct the electronic public records, the District shall refund the excess charge received at the same time that it allows the applicant to inspect the electronic public records. 

 

  •      Inspection. The District shall notify the applicant in writing when copies of the electronic public records are produced and available for inspection.  The applicant shall have a month from the time the District provides notification to come to the District’s designated location to inspect the records.  After the one-month time period, the request shall be officially closed. 

 

  •      Request Priority. Requests that are at or below the $100.00 threshold will be handled expeditiously by the District and will take priority over the other public record requests that are above the threshold. 

 

  •     Costs for Producing Copies. The fee schedules described in Sections 3(b), (d), and (e) apply to electronic public records. 

 

  1.       Non-Electronic Public Records

 

  •    Inspection.  The District shall notify the applicant in writing when copies of the non-electronic public records are produced and available for inspection.  The applicant shall have one month from the time the District provides notification to come to the District’s designated location to inspect the records.  After the one-month time period, the request shall be officially closed. 

 

  •      Fees for Copying Non-Electronic Public Records. Under W.S. 16-4-204, an applicant may obtain a paper copy of a non-electronic public record upon payment as follows:

 

  •      Standard (8.5 x 11 inch) – black and white copy                       $0.10/page
  •      Standard (8.5 x 11 inch) – colored copy                                    $0.60/page
  •      Legal (8.5 x 14 inch) – black and white copy                             $0.25/page
  •      Legal (8.5 x 14 inch) – colored copy                                          $1.00/page
  •      Other sheet size                                                                         actual cost
  •      Photograph                                                                                actual cost
  •      Utilization of an outside vendor for copying                               actual cost
  •      District’s fee to supervise copying                                             see Section 2(c)(i) – (iii)
  •      Special instances, i.e., film                                                        actual cost

 

  •     Payment. The applicant shall pre-pay the fees in Section 3(b) before the District provides the copies, if requested.  Payment shall be made to the District. 

 

  •     Costs for Producing Electronic Copies. An applicant may obtain an electronic copy of a non-electronic public record upon payment as follows: 

 

  •       Scanning non-electronic public records $0.10/page
  •       Electronic Media (disk, thumb drive, etc.) actual cost

 

  •     Fees for Transmitting Public Records. The District may charge the following fees for transmitting non-electronic public records: 

 

  •       Mailing, including cost of the shipping container actual cost
  •       Facsimile actual cost

 

Nothing herein prevents the Custodian of Records from waiving the fees or costs associated with the request at the custodian’s discretion.

 

Policy Adopted: 3/8/16

Policy Revised: 7/17/19