By Gail Peckler-Dziki~Correspondent
Mia Swatkowski might not apply the old say “better late than never” to the recent decision of the Central High School board to revise its open records policy.
Less than a month ago, Swatkowski made an open records request for budget information and the proposal for the 1993 addition to the building. The district was happy to give them to her, to the tune of $1,699.44.
Swatkowski had to tell the school that she didn’t have money for that. She never got her records.
Just what did Swatkowski want? According to an invoice dated Feb. 1, she requested information relating to the 1993 addition to the school, which included an expansion of the mezzanine that is home to the Central gymnastics program. She wanted information regarding the public use of the high school and athletic fields for 2012 through 2014 and gymnastics information.
The actual cost of the 50 copies was only listed at $12.50. But the invoice included other items that added up to the arm and the leg. Included in that invoice were four hours of legal fees at $200. That added $800 to the bill. Swatkowski was told the attorney had to comb through the documents to see if anything needed to be redacted.
The rest was for the time the business manager and administrative secretary would need to locate the documents that were requested.
It was discovered that district administrator Scott Pierce was using an outdated open records policy to add on those costs. So the board is working on updating that policy to dovetail with state law.
Last June, the Wisconsin Supreme Court said that charging for the time spent on deleting confidential information was illegal. This was a result of a dispute between the Milwaukee Journal and the Milwaukee Police Department.
State law no longer includes redaction costs in fees for open records:
(3) FEES. (a) An authority may impose a fee upon the requester of a copy of a record which may not exceed the actual, necessary and direct cost of reproduction and transcription of the record, unless a fee is otherwise specifically established or authorized to be established by law.
(b) Except as otherwise provided by law or as authorized to be prescribed by law an authority may impose a fee upon the requester of a copy of a record that does not exceed the actual, necessary and direct cost of photographing and photographic processing if the authority provides a photograph of a record, the form of which does not permit copying.
(c) Except as otherwise provided by law or as authorized to be prescribed by law, an authority may impose a fee upon a requester for locating a record, not exceeding the actual, necessary and direct cost of location, if the cost is $50 or more.
Certain things cannot be released such as any personally identifying information such as social security information or information that might identify a minor. Swatkowski said she wasn’t sure why the school might need the attorney to review budget records or a building proposal for that type of information.
Swatkowski is still waiting for her request to be filled. Questions remain about the cost of time to locate records, since some of the records should be electronically kept and easy to locate.