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HomeMy WebLinkAboutP-0420 - Fee Schedule for Copies and Process 01-01-1993r '~ t ~ POLICY FOR INSERTION INTO THE POLICY MANUAL MEETING DATE: September 20, 1988 EFFECTIVE DATE: September 20, 1988 POLICY' FEE SCHEDULE FOR COPIES AND PROCESS NUMBER' A•0420 REVISIONS: January 1, 1993* Orange County adopted a policy endorsing the following fee schedule for copies made by county staff on county copying equipment, but excluding copies made by the Register of Deeds office: Uncertified copies Certified copies Search fee Second copies of any report Mailed documents $ .25 per page $1.00 per page $1.00 per page $ .25 per page $ .25 per copy plus the actual postage incurred by county As a matter of policy, copies of all reports are made available to the public in a variety of locations such as libraries and county offices, as well as to the press. All copies of reports, in addition to the first one which is provided free, shall be assessed at $ .25 per page. POLICY ON CASSETTE TAPES* It has been determined that a reasonable and just fee of $4.00 per tape will be charged for duplicating cassette tapes of County Commissioner meetings. This amount includes personnel costs and the cost of the cassette. • oved: to/~/88' ~. QgB,N,~ ~Q~,'f~,Y QF COMMISSIONERS ~ ~ S~,TBMBER ~ ~~ PAGE 1 The Orange County Board of Commissioners net in regular session on Tuesday. September 20, 1988. in the courtroom of the old Poet Office, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. BOA DR ~ PRESENT: Chair Shirley T. Marshall and Commissianers Moses Carey, Jr., Stephen Halklatis, John Hartwell and Don Willhoit. ATTORNEY PRESII~IT: Geoffrey Gledhill. PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Assistant County Manager Albeit Kittrell, Deputy Clerk to the Board Kathy Baker, Clerk to the $oard Beverly A. Blythe, Planning Director Marvin Collins, Housing and Community Development Director Tara Fikes, Purohasing Director Pam Janes, Finance Director Bllen Liston, Department on Aging Director Jerry Passmare and Health Director Dan Reimer. ~ ~A.BE~ SIP ~. Chair Shirley Marshall aimounced that due to health reasons and with much reluctance. she will step down as Chair of the County Commissioners at the close of business on FYiday, September 23, 1988. She stated that it has been an honor and a privilege to serve as Chair and she has done her very best and feels good about the County. Moses has worked with her as a teen and as vice-chair has provided her with support not seen before. She stated that John Link is providing a new level of leadership. He, Ann Dean and Clerk $everly Blythe are working well together and that there should be few if any transitional problems. Chair Marshall stated she sill fulfill all the responsibilities of a County Comaissioner but will be limiting extra meetings and travel for the present. Commissioner Carey commended Shirley Marshall for the fob she has done foz the last two years in providing leadership to the Board and the County. He looks forward to continuing to work with her. Commissioner Hartwell stated that he feels Mows will make a fine leader and. that the Soard will support him. He stressed that Shirl has earned what Moses has not yet earned and it would b® real hard to replace what Shirl has done and asked her to continue with her strong leadership. E: PUBLIC CQMMENTS None Motion was made by Commissioner Willhoit, seconded by Commissioner Hartwell to approvQ the ~¢3nutes for July 19 as circulated. VOTx: UNANIMOUS. Motion was made by Commis:loner Hartwell, seconded by Commissioner Wilihoit to approve the minutes for the Joint Public Hearing held on August 22, 1988 as circulated. VOTB: UNANIMOUS. PAGE 5 22 public hearing and are required to bring the County into compliance with amendments to the national regulations changes that have been made to the federally emergency management agency. The Planning Board and the Administratipn recommends approval. Motion waa made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to approve the amendments as presented at public hearing and recommended by the Planning Board and the Administration, VOTE: UNANIHOIIS. ,~,, ~~ ~~TER ST<IDY COMMITTEE - APPOINTMENTS John Link made the following recommendation: 1) that the total number of committee members be 23 and that all staff be removed from full membership and serve as ex-officio members. (2) that David Swanson be appointed to the committee as a Chapel Hill representative. (3) that Uilliam Dow be appointed as a Chatham County representative. (4) that a member of the Board of Commissioners be appointed as a Liaison member who would keep the Board up-to-date on the efforts of the committee and that each Board member attend as many meetings as possible. (5) that the Board of Commissioners be provided with minutest of Committee mestinga and that a monthly status report be given to the Commissioners each month by the Committee Chair or hie designated representative. The Board will Head to make some decisions as the process proceeds, Marvin Collins outlined the role of the committee. The aain role will be that the committee will be a liaison between the consultant and the staff and the citizens of the County. One of the goals is to be the bridge between the efforts that are being made in terms of the technical aspects of the study and comraying that information to the public - trying to get the public involved and taking information out to the citizens which will in turn provide the consultants with feedback. • Commissioner Halkiotis volunteered to be the liaison committee member. He suggested that these meetings be video taped for all the members to view. Motian was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Hartwell to approve the Manager's recommendation as stated above_ VOTE: UNANIMOUS. (~/~U~~ ~ ~ ~CH$DULE ~Q$ COPIES f John Link noted that on April 19 the Board approved a policy for providing access to public records. The following is a recommendation for rates to be charged to the public for copies of these records: Uncertified Copies $ .25 per pegs Certified Copies 1.00 per page Search Fees 1.00 per document Second copy of any report .25 per .page Hailed documents .25 per copy plus the actual cost incurred by the County Chair Marshall asked for the cost of computer disks be considered in this policy. Motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to approve the policy as stated above. VOTE: UNANIMOUS. ~ ~ ~Q$ ~ ~~ COUNTY ASSEMBLY ~,~~ GOVERNMENTS Chair Marshall explained that this second draft is less rigid and formal thaa t ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 1 Action Agenda Item No. ~~_ ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: September 20, 1988 SUBJECT: FEE SCHEDULE; COPIES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT: COUNTY MANAGER PUBLIC HEARING YES: NO:XX ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: John Link Bev Blythe or Pam Jones POLICY SURVEY FROM OTHER Telephone Number- JURISDICTIONS Hillsborough -732-8181 Chapel Hill -967-9251 Mebane -227-2031 Durham -688-7331 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- POSE: To consider establishing a cost per copy for. documents requested by the Publzc. BACKGROUND: On April 19, 1988 the Board of County Commissioners adopted a policy setting guidelines for public access to County records. Copy charges for these records were not set pending a policy survey of area jurisdic~ions. The attached survey results show a variance from no charge to S .50 per copy if the document is mailed. The average cost per copy, of the jurisdictions charging a fee, is approximately ~ .15 each {assumes copies are picked up in office). Following a review of expenses associated with the cost of a copy, we, are requesting that a fee of ~ .25 per copy be set. This figure is based on S .05 per copy which is attributable to equipment, supplies and paper costs and the balance to help defray the cost of the labor involved. {If an employee making X5.00 per hour spends 5 minutes making a copy, there is approximately $ .42 in time used.) If the document must be a certified copy, the fee requested is $1.00 per page. In addition, it is requested that a fee of $1.00 per document be assessed as a search fee to help defray the labor costs involved in _,..locating and replacing the documents in their proper files. a matter of policy, copies of all reports are made available to the lic in a variety of locations such as Libraries and County offices, well as to the Press. It is requested that all copies of reports, in addition to the first one which is provided free, also be assessed at $ .25 per page. • ~, ., , .. ~ ~"'~ 2 It is likewise requested that the County be reimbursed by the requestor for documents that are mailed. This fee would be based on the actual expenditure for postage. As a point of clarification, this schedule is not intended to cover fees set independently by the Register of Deeds office, although they also currently charge $ .25 per copy. RECOMMENDATION: Adopt the following fee schedule for copies made by County staff on County copying equipment, but excluding copies made by the Register of Deeds office: Uncertified copies $ .25 per page Certified copies $1.00 per page Search fee $1.D0 per document ~ Second copies of any report $ .25 per pace Mailed documents $ .25 per copy plus the actual postage expense incurred by County • C1 MEMORANDUM --- . TO: All Department Heads . FROM: John M. Link, Jr. DATE: November 3, 1988 RE: FEE SCHEDULE FOR COPIES AND PROCESS On September 20, the Board of Commissioners approved a new fee schedule for copies of documents requested by the uublic. S have attached a copy of that agenda abstract. This policy is the second part of the policy the Board approved on April 19 regarding guidelines for public access to County records. You were sent a copy of that information at that time. The process for collecting these copy fees will be as follows: 1. If the person comes into your office, you may either make the copies and charge accordingly or as the policy states provide the copies w*ithin 3 days. If you make the copies while the person is in your office, follow tt2 below. If you provide the copies within three days and mail the documents, follow n3 below. 2. Receive the amount charged, write a receipt and forward a copy of the receipt and the money to the Revenue Department. 3. Complete the attached invoice in triplicate. one • copy goes to the person rectuesting the copies, one copy to finance and one copy for your files. If you do not have.a receipt boo}., please call finance and one will be provided. All monies collected are to be taken to the Revenue Department and deposited to Revenue code XFI-22. rr^or those codes that are mailed with an invoice send a copy of that invoice to the Finance Office. You do not need to do any further followup. The Finance Office will let you know when the invo~,Ce ].5 paid by retuning tc~ you the bottom portion of 'the invoice. If the invo~,ce is not paid and you get a xequest ~x'GA- ghat same person, you indicate that further copies will nat be provided until the ~~svious invoice has been paid. The process has been simplified ~p_ your conv~~,.ence in serving the public. Sa.nce this is ~. rew proce~~, Tease let me know a~ any tiroblez~s you expex'ience. If y+au ~~ve any questions about the policy Q~ prQCa~ss, pleas~t ce~~.~. ~~ hones or Beverly Blythe. Thank you. ~J C/~~~ ~~ ~ ~~ • Moses Cazey, Jr. Alice M. Gordon Stephen H. Halldotis Verla C. Insko Don Willhoit ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS P.O. Box 8181 HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. 27278 732-8181 968-4501 688-7331 227-2031 644-3004 (Fax) MEMORANDIIM TO: County Clerk's Office Staff FROM: Beverly Blythe, Clerk DATE: December 16, 1992 RE: POLICY ON CASSETTE TAPES It shall be the policy of the Clerk's Office to charge a fee for duplicating cassette tapes of County Commissioner Meetings for members of the public. In accordance with the general statutes the charge must be reasonable and just. It has been determined that a reasonable and just charge shall be $4.00 per tape. This includes personnel costs and the cost of the cassette. This policy shall become effective on January 1, 1993. YOU COUNT IN ORANGE COUNTY THE \CA~~ S OBSERI-ER WEONESOAY, JULY ~ Z, 1495 3A New law m ' ekes ubl~c records more accessible The new rules strengthen Pe~Y per voter -to copy it onto a State and county agencies ini- "Open government is the foun- ^ The law requires officials to 530 computer tape. tially argued that changes in the dation of freedom," Cooper said. release public records even if they ways for North Caro inians fo "I wrote a check and paid it records portion would be too "All we have done is make sure are mixed with private ones - .fend and get. information. !t under protest," Holmes said. "I costly to implement. But they the taxpayers have access to and at no additional cost for knew that wasn't right:" agreed to the changes because of public records they have already separating them. Agencies also allows requires agencies to bast week, the General Assem- a provision that gives them more paid for. We did have government must create an index of all com- provide on index of their bly passed a new open records law time to comply, legislators said. viewing these requests as records puler databases they have and eom uter databases. that .would satisfy Holmes' com- All state agencies, for example, they could turn azound and sell for indude information -about what is p plaints. It would help lower the must comply by next July. And a profit." on each database. It also- makes it BY J. ANDREW CURWSS cost for citizens to obtain public .towns with fewer than 10,000 The bill, which becomes law deaz that records available in. STAFF WRITER records, and would allow greater people and counties with a popula- Oct. 1, updates several aspects of computer form should be provid- ~ access to documents in the age of lion of less than 25,000 have until the old law, including: ed that way if requested. State Rep. George Holmes was a computerized government bu- J,~y 1998 to meet the new Stan- ^ Agencies can now charge on- ^ A judge can now order an convinced that the public records reaucracy. dard. ly for the "actual cost" of produc- individual public official -not his law needed fixing when he tried ~to This week, Holmes got his check The new law does not. open ing a record. Before, they could agency - to pay attorney fees if get a list of the voters in his returned in the mail. Ripped in records that were closed, but charge for "reasonable" costs, the official unlawfully withholds district. half. instead strengthens ways to find which in some cases included such records. ..................... o mes, a Hamptonville Repub- For three years, lobbyists and and get available public records, things as electricity for running a "This law puts .North Carolina lican, simply asked the Wilkes the state's newspapers have officials said. copy machine. among the states with the best or County Board of Elections for its pushed legislators to change pub- Sen. Roy Cooper, a Rocky strongest public records Laws in computerized list. lic records and open meetings Mount Democrat and the bill's ^ The law now specifically says' the country," said Ken Eudy, a He was given the records, but laws. The meetings portion chief sponsor, said every citizen is officials should provide records lobbyist for the N.C. Press Associ- he had to cough up 5390.26 - a passed last year. helped by the law. "as promptly as possible." ation.