Access to city, county records can be easy with a few helpful tips
Access to government records can be as easy as accessing a website or sending an email — if you know what you are looking for.
The state Freedom of Information Act requires that government business be conducted openly.
“It is vital in a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner so that citizens shall be advised of the performance of public officials and of the decisions that are reached in public activity and in the formulation of public policy,” says the state statute that governs public records.
Some of these records can be accessed on government websites.
“The City of Greenwood’s website is a centralized location for citizens to access a plethora of City-related information,” Shameka Brown, the city’s FOIA officer, wrote in an email.
On the city’s website, the code of ordinances, city council meeting schedule, meeting minutes and council contact information and ward maps can be found. The city also has a citizen service request form on its website where residents can make requests.
Likewise, Greenwood County’s website provides access to a host of information.
“The County website shows routine information like the County’s budget from the current one back to FY-2011, expenditures for the 2016 Capital Project Sales Tax, and contact information for every County department, just to name a small amount of the information contained on the website,” Greenwood County Manager Toby Chappell wrote in an email.
Meeting minutes, access to past council meeting videos, ordinances and zoning rules can be found on the county’s website.
Some records require the requester to file written notice to the government seeking documents. The city provides a Freedom of Information Act Request Form on its website as does the county.
“Requests can be made by letter or in some other written form but should contain substantially the same information listed on the FOIA request form,” Brown said. “Requests should be as detailed, specific, and descriptive as possible.”
Requesting government documents can take time and in some cases cost money. FOIA requests that are too broad and vague can lead to unnecessary delays and a costly bill.
“The important thing to remember, in terms of keeping costs down and requests reasonable, is specificity when making your request,” Chappell said.
Chappell gave an example of a requestor seeking a credit card statement for county employees.
“Do not ask for credit card information statements from every County employee for the past four years when what you want is the credit card statement for employee Jim Smith for November 2020,” Chappell said.
He said the one request could require a county staffer to spend an appreciable amount of time to fulfill — which would be a cost passed along to the requestor. The more specific request would lead to a quicker response and possibly without charge, Chappell said.
He said a common mistake is a requestor being overly vague in their request. Brown had another tip for filing a FOIA request.
“Ensuring that information requested is subject to FOIA,” Brown said. “The law does not provide for exemptions.”
S.C. Code of Laws Section 30-4-40 lists a number of matters which are exempt from disclosure. Trade secrets, personal information, law enforcement records that would interfere with a proceeding or deprive a person of their right to a fair trial, documents of contractual arrangements prior to the execution of a sale, correspondence related to attorney-client privilege and compensation amounts for government employees making less than $50,000 are excluded from disclosure.
If a FOIA request will cost, both governments have set up a fee schedule.
The city charges a fee of 15 cents per copied page and will assess a “prorated hourly rate for lowest cost employee for any research or programming that requires more than 15 minutes of staff time.”
There is no charge for electronic copies unless a city employee must transfer a document to electronic format, which would result in a fee, Brown said.
The county’s rate for copies of public records is 25 cents per page. An additional fee may be added for searching and copying made by a county employee at the employee’s hourly rate.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Mar 20, 2021
By JAMES HICKS jhicks@indexjournal.com