City to consider changing open records policies

One of the items Shelbyville's city council will take up during next week's study session would put the city in line with the state's open records laws.

The item is a resolution that would establish a schedule of charges for documents covered under Tennessee's Public Records Act.

Tennessee established an open records office last year to assist citizens in gaining access to government documents. The agency is part of the office of the state comptroller.

The open records office came up with a schedule of charges for the records and the resolution will simply comply with the updated state law, according to city manager Ed Craig.

The city can also establish its own charges, Craig explained.

Controversy recently arose in Tullahoma after a change in procedure resulted in delays for anyone to get copies of police reports and all other municipal records, according to The Tullahoma News.

Previously, police reports in Tullahoma were accessed through the police department, where the public could purchase copies upon verbal request. However, now the requests have to be made in writing at the city government front desk.

According to the state's Office of Open Records Council, the schedule of reasonable charges is to be reviewed at least annually.

A custodian of a public record can't charge a fee for inspections, but he or she can charge for copies of a government document.

A charge of 15 cents per page for each standard black and white copy produced can be assessed and if the record is in color, the custodian can charge 50 cents per page.

The schedule of charges cannot be arbitrary and "excessive fees and other rules shall not be used to hinder access to non-exempt, public records," the office says.

Also, the records custodian could reduce or waive, in whole or in part, any charge only in accordance with the city's properly adopted written policy.

Records custodians are not required to produce the requested records immediately, but if they are readily available "and there is no need to review and redact, then the records should be made available as 'promptly' as possible," the office said.

If the record can't be made available promptly, the custodian has seven days to either make the records available, deny the request in writing or submit a written explanation of how long it will take to produce the request.

The TPRA does not distinguish requests for inspection of records based on the intended use, whether it is for research, personal, or commercial purposes.

The council will hold its study session Tuesday beginning at 6 p.m. in the courtroom of the Shelbyville Police Department.