The Hermiston City Council rejected a proposal Monday night to increase fees for providing public records.
Hermiston City Manager Byron Smith presented the council with a resolution that would have updated fees charged to the public for various public records request. Smith said the proposal was aimed at allowing the city to recoup costs associated with labor-intensive records requests, but admitted requests that take up a lot of staff time rarely come up.
Smith said most public records requests are aimed at the police department. He cited potential requests for release of police body camera footage, which he said could take substantial time to prepare. Smith said such requests would require staff time to redact certain visuals from the footage, such as faces.
The resolution called for a $40 base fee for body camera footage requests. It also called for a $20 flat fee for any police report, regardless of how many pages.
Several councilors objected to the fees, arguing that it was the city’s job to provide public records to anyone who requests it. City Attorney Gary Luisi said it was the city’s responsibility to provide that service, just like it provides water and sewer services. Councilor Doug Primmer said the fees would serve as another tax.
Hermiston Mayor Dave Drotzmann said the fees could serve to prevent people from making outrageous requests that would tie up city staff for substantial periods of time.
The council ended up rejecting the resolution by a vote of 5-3.
