7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015
Access: In most cases, fees imposed are at the agency’s discretion
Continued from Page 1A
growing threat to expanding
openness at all levels of gov-
ernment, a cornerstone of
Sunshine Week. The week-
long open government ini-
tiative is celebrating its 10th
anniversary beginning March
15.
“It’s incredibly easy for an
agency that doesn’t want cer-
tain records to be exposed to
impose fees in the hopes that
the requester is dissuaded,”
said Adam Marshall, a fellow
with the Reporters Commit-
tee for Freedom of the Press,
which sponsors Sunshine Week
with the American Society of
News Editors. “If the people
don’t know what’s going on,
either because they don’t have
direct access to information or
because the media isn’t able
to provide them with access to
information about what their
government is doing, it’s im-
possible for the people to ex-
ercise any sense of informed
self-governance.”
Fees can be charged for
searching for records, making
copies, paying a lawyer to re-
dact certain parts of the infor-
mation or hiring technical ex-
perts to analyze the data.
In most cases, the fees
imposed are at the agency’s
discretion; those agencies
sometimes waive the costs or
requesters can appeal them to
an administrative board. But
in other cases, Marshall said
news organizations and private
citizens are faced with the “ri-
diculous choice” of weighing
WKHFRVWVDQGEHQH¿WVRIEHLQJD
responsible public steward.
In Florida, the Broward
6KHULII¶V 2I¿FH WROG -DVRQ
Parsley, executive editor of
the South Florida Gay News,
last year that it would cost
$399,000 and take four years to
provide every email for a one-
year period that contained cer-
tain derogatory words for gays.
7KH UHDVRQ DFFRUGLQJ WR RI¿-
cials: The email system could
not perform a keyword search
of all accounts at once.
Parsley says he has talked to
computer experts who disagree
and say a modern email system
could handle the request easily,
but he doesn’t have the money
or the time to take the matter to
court.
“It would be their word
against ours,” he said. “Even
if we could pay that amount,
it would be four years. What
good would that do me at that
point, anyway?”
ACCESS IN OREGON
AP Photo/Alan Diaz
Jason Parsley, executive editor of the South Florida Gay
News, poses for a photo at his office in Wilton Manors, Fla. The
public’s right to see government records is coming at an ev-
er-increasing price, as authorities set fees and hourly charges
that often prevent information from flowing. Broward Sheriff’s
Office told Parsley last year that it would cost $399,000 and
take four years to provide every email for a one-year period
that contained certain derogatory words for gays.
If the goal was to keep him
from learning that deputies
used such terms, authorities
won, Parsley said.
Broward County Sheriff’s
Lt. Eric Caldwell said the de-
partment was not trying to be
evasive. He said each employ-
ee’s email is stored on a tape
and kept at a remote archive
facility. It has to be retrieved
physically and then converted
LQWR D 0LFURVRIW 2XWORRN ¿OH
which can then be searched.
“If we have it, we have to
provide it,” he said. “The rea-
son this cost so much is that
this person had a very vague
request.”
Virginia law allows reason-
able charges not to exceed the
actual cost of accessing, dupli-
cating, supplying, or searching
for the requested records. But
to get electronic copies of Vir-
ginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s
daily calendar for nearly 10
PRQWKV RI¿FLDOV WROG WKH $3
that it would need to pay about
$500 upfront. That’s because
McAuliffe’s counsel said staff
would have had to search, re-
view and possibly redact cer-
tain calendar entries. Mean-
while, in California, daily
FDOHQGDUHQWULHVIRU*RY-HUU\
Brown are routinely provided
at no cost to the AP.
Another example: Iowa’s
newly created Public Informa-
tion Board ruled in December
that the state Department of
Corrections could charge the
Marshall Project, a nonprof-
it that reports on the criminal
justice system, $2,020 for ac-
cess to its federally mandat-
ed reports on sexual violence
DJDLQVW LQPDWHV ,RZD RI¿FLDOV
said it would take an employee
108 hours at $15 per hour to re-
view, redact and copy 2,672 re-
cords, plus a 15-cents-per-page
charge for copies. Some larger
states charge nothing or just a
nominal fee for access to those
reports.
“I think there’s a genuine
effort to be responsive, but
WKHUH LV D KLJKHU FRVW WR IXO¿OO
these requests,” said Dan Bev-
arly, acting executive director
of the National Freedom of
Information Coalition, a non-
SUR¿WEDVHGDWWKH8QLYHUVLW\RI
Missouri-Columbia that works
to protect the public’s right to
open government. “There are
other times where there’s a de-
liberate effort to circumvent the
system.”
Lawmakers in several states
have proposed or passed laws
seeking to address those fees.
Michigan lawmakers re-
cently approved a law mandat-
ing that agencies cannot charge
more than 10 cents a page for
documents. Further, people can
¿OH D ODZVXLW LI WKH\ EHOLHYH
they are being overcharged
and can try to get the amount
reduced. If a court agrees, it
must assess $1,000 in punitive
damages.
In February, Maryland law-
makers introduced a bill that
would establish a compliance
board to handle complaints
and cap the fees agencies can
charge for public documents.
Yet other states are consid-
ering actions that could restrict
access or deter those making
requests.
Following complaints from
Tennessee’s school boards
association, a proposal in the
state Legislature would allow
agencies to charge for anything
Some recent developments regarding the
cost of seeking access to information:
Journalists in Oregon say high fees
charged by government agencies are one
of the biggest obstacles to obtaining public
records.
Last fall, the Register-Guard newspaper in
Eugene asked the University of Oregon for
records related to a nonprofit group trying
to bring a major track meet to campus. The
university demanded $2,163 to produce
them. After the newspaper complained the
fees hindered news coverage in the public
interest, interim University President Scott
Coltrane waived the fee, but much of the
information was blacked out. The news-
paper has appealed the redactions to the
district attorney.
After a teacher sued for the right to carry
a concealed handgun into class for per-
sonal protection in 2007, The Mail Tribune
newspaper in Medford wanted to know how
many other teachers could potentially do
the same. The Jackson County Sheriff’s
Office refused to supply a database of
concealed weapons permits, saying the in-
formation was personal, despite the words
“This is a public record,” printed on the
permit. After the Oregon Court of Appeals
ruled in the newspaper’s favor in 2010, the
county demanded more than $18,000 for
staff and attorney time to review and redact
the documents. By then, the teacher had
lost her lawsuit; the newspaper dropped the
request.
The Oregonian newspaper asked the
Oregon Department of Energy for emails
and documents about business energy tax
credits awarded to solar energy projects
between 2003 and 2013. The agency
demanded $9,830 for 170 hours of attorney
and staff time to produce the documents.
The reporter reduced his request to a data-
base at a cost of less than $500.
The Associated Press asked state police
for records pertaining to their 2012 investi-
more than one hour of time ful-
¿OOLQJUHFRUGVUHTXHVWV&XUUHQW
law allows them to charge for
copies, but not for the time they
spend collecting and redacting
documents. A legislative anal-
ysis of a similar proposal that
failed in 2011 estimated that lo-
cal governments would collect
about $1.6 million in fees under
the change.
“If someone can’t afford
the fees, they can’t see the re-
cords,” said Deborah Fisher,
executive director of the Ten-
nessee Coalition for Open Gov-
ernment. “There is nothing yet
to safeguard against abuse by
JRYHUQPHQWRI¿FLDOVZKRPD\
ZDQWWREORFNDFFHVVE\LQÀDW-
ing fees.”
An Indiana proposal would
allow a searching fee for record
requests that take longer than
WZR KRXUV WR IXO¿OO$IWHU WKDW
time, an agency could charge
up to $20 an hour and require
payment up front. The search
time would not include time
gation of the director of a commission regu-
lating boxing and martial arts after $22,000
in cash and checks was found lying around
his office. Last December, the state police
demanded $4,000 for 25 hours of staff time
to prepare, review and redact materials.
The AP dropped the request. State police
said they found no evidence of wrongdoing.
ACCESS IN WASHINGTON
State law dictates that only “reasonable”
charges may be imposed for providing
copies of public records and that no agency
can charge more than the actual cost of
copying, an amount not to exceed 15 cents
a page.
Toby Nixon, president of the Washington
Coalition for Open Government, said most
state agencies provide electronic records
free by email or at a nominal cost if provid-
ed on CD.
Earlier this year, the Legislature consid-
ered a bill that would allow state agencies
to charge for digital public records.
House Bill 1684 passed one committee
but failed to get a vote in another, mean-
ing it is likely dead for the year. Under the
bill, the first 10 megabytes of digital public
records would be free, but the cost would
increase to 15 cents per megabyte thereaf-
ter. For videos, the first five minutes would
be provided free of charge, with additional
footage costing 10 cents per minute. Those
charges would be capped at $50 for the
first batch of digital records, increasing to
$100 for additional batches.
Nixon says he is not opposed to agencies
charging something for providing digital
records, but he said the costs in the bill
language were unreasonable.
“There’s no rational relationship between
15 cents a megabyte and the actual cost of
copying electronic records,” he said.
Agencies can be allowed to charge some-
thing, Nixon said, “but they should not be
making a profit off of it.”
VSHQWUHGDFWLQJFRQ¿GHQWLDOLQ-
formation, but opponents said
the fee will discourage more in-
depth records requests and give
RI¿FLDOV DQRWKHU WRRO WR ¿JKW
transparency.
Most agencies in Washing-
ton state provide electronic re-
cords free by email, and state
law caps charges for copies at
15 cents a page. But earlier this
year, the Legislature considered
a bill that would allow agencies
to charge for digital public re-
cords, raising concerns among
good-government advocates.
The bill passed one committee
but failed to get a vote in anoth-
er, meaning it is likely dead for
the year.
Agencies can be allowed to
levy charges, says Toby Nixon,
president of the Washington
Coalition for Open Govern-
ment, “but they should not be
PDNLQJDSUR¿WRIIRILW´
6RPHJRYHUQPHQWRI¿FLDOV
say they are unable to waive
fees because their budgets are
tight. Complicating matters
further is a larger number of
records being generated and
the inability of agencies to
maintain and process them,
leading to more time and re-
sources dedicated to research-
ing requests.
In most instances, the price
WR IXO¿OO UHTXHVWV FRPHV GRZQ
to what’s being sought and
the costs associated with re-
sponding to them, said Chuck
Thompson, executive director
of the International Municipal
Lawyers Association, a non-
SUR¿W JURXS UHSUHVHQWLQJ ORFDO
government attorneys across
North America.
“There’s probably a fairly
low percentage of governments
that are attempting to provide
barriers to the release of infor-
mation,” Thompson said. “It’s
really important that the public
KDYHWKHDELOLW\WR¿QGRXWZKDW
their government’s doing, but
they can’t bring their govern-
ment to their knees.”
CL ASSIF IE D M ARK ETPL A CE
W
E
GE
T
RESU
L
TS
N EW N EW
TOD AY ! TOD AY !
P lace classified ad s o n lin e at w w w .d ailyasto rian .co m o r call 503-325-3211
46 A NNOUNCEMENTS
K IM B ERLY FLAIG G
cla ssified sa les representa tive
Look a t these
a ds first
for N orth Coa st
com m u n ity pa pers
Look a t these
a ds first
The Da ily Asto ria n • Chin o o k O b server
Co a st M a rketp la ce • Co a st W eeken d
S ea sid e S ig n a l • Ca n n o n Bea ch Ga zette
Pla ce yo u r a d to d a y
5 03.325 .3211 • ext . 231
cla ssified s@ d a ilya sto ria n .co m
EMPLOYMENT SPECIALIST
Coast Rehabilitation Services is
looking for a compassionate and
highly motivated person to work
along side people with
developmental disabilities. Position
to assist individuals seek and
maintain employment in the
community. Knowledge of the
Astoria employment market, sales
and business is essential.
Knowledge of person centered
planning, Vocational Rehabilitation,
job analysis and development,
vocational assessments and job
placement are helpful as well as
supervisory experience.
Competitive wage and generous
benefits including medical, dental,
short-term disability and 401k; On
the job training provided; Must be
a Driver, pass drug test and crimi-
nal background check; high school
graduate or GED required.
Please submit a letter of interest
and application to Human
Resources PO BOX 760,
Warrenton OR 97146.
Equal Opportunity Employer.
UPGRADING your stereo? Sell the
used equipment fast, by listing it in
the Daily Astorian classified section.
Call 325-3211 today!
N EW
Make a difference
at Job Corps!
MTC seeks candidates for the
following position serving youth,
ages 16-24, at our
Astoria campus:
•Galley Cooking Instructor
Apply at www.mtc.jobs and enter
Astoria, OR in the search field.
Management and Training
Corporation is an Equal
Opportunity Employer
Minorities/Females/Disabilities/
Veterans
MTC Values Diversity!
Drug-free workplace and
tobacco-free campus
Astoria: 1695 Irving, 2 bedroom,
1 bath, shower only, basement, no
dogs, no smoke. $975 +deposits.
ASTORIA COAST INC.
(503)325-9093
Seaside: Small studio apartment.
Ocean view, firepalce $600 month.
Utilities included. (503)209-0333
XL 1200 Custom HD Sportster black
Low miles, extra chrome parts,
many extras. $4900 OBO. Call
details (360)775-7125
TOD AY !
RV Resort at Cannon Beach –
Front Desk
The RV Resort at Cannon Beach is
seeking an outgoing, positive
person with a sincere Spirit of
Hospitality to join our team.
Prerequisites include a team
orientation, flexible and a multi
tasking skill set.
Must have computer skills.
Our culture honors hard work,
honesty, a sense of humor and
individuality. At its core is a
commitment to hiring for the
Hospitality Attitude.
In addition to offering a very
competitive wage, the RV Resort
offers many benefits to our
employees. These benefits include
paid vacation, medical,
profit sharing/401K and more.
NEW STARTING
COMPETITIVE WAGE.
Please apply in person at RV
Resort at Cannon Beach at
340 Elk Creek Road. If you have
any questions, please contact
Michelle at (503) 436-2231.
40 P ERSONALS
Good looking, mature,
established man
seeks long term relationship
with women.
Send information to connect
Send reply to Box 227,
c/o Daily Astorian, P.O. Box 210,
Astoria, OR 97103
Sincere retired white male 60ʼs
of good health, wishes to meet
sincere retired female.
For life time commitment.
Age and weight unimportant,
must be serious for replys
Write Mike with phone number
PO box 476
Cathlament WA, 98612
WE DELIVER!
Please leave a light on or install
motion detector lights to make
your carrierʼs job easier. Thanks!
THE DAILY
ASTORIAN
45 P UBLIC N OTICES
Occasionally
other
companies
make telemarketing calls off clas-
sified ads. These companies are
not affiliated with The Daily Asto-
rian and customers are under no
obligation to participate.
If you would like to contact the at-
torney general or be put on the do
not call list, here are the links to
both of them
Complaint form link:
http://www.doj.state.or.us/
finfraud/
Request for Proposal
2015-2016 Contract for Jewell
School District
Pre-School/Daycare
The Jewell School District welcomes
existing businesses, individuals or
other organizations to compete for
the contractual opportunities to
provide the Pre-School-Daycare
Program for the 2015-2016 school
year. We are looking to begin with
a one year contract with the
opportunity to extend the contract
upon agreement spring 2016.
Deadline for bid submissions is
3:00 pm April 1, 2015. Please visit
our website home page
(jewell.k12.or.us) for more infor-
mation or call 503 755-2451 ext.
2410.
If You Live In
Seaside
or Cannon
Beach
DIAL
325-3211
FOR A
Daily Astorian
Classified Ad
70 H ELP W ANTED
70 H ELP W ANTED
Beach Burrito Wants You!
If you are responsible, hardworking,
and friendly- Beach Burrito wants
you to join our exceptional crew.
Shifts available days and nights.
Apply Beach Burrito
11 W Marine Dr. Astoria
2pm to 5pm. Drug screen required.
Big Foots Steak House
Now hiring for
•experienced line cook,
•prep cook.
for a fast paced restaurant.
Must be detail oriented.
Apply in person at 2427 S.
Roosevelt Seaside.
Box K Auto Repair, located on the
Long Beach Peninsula is
looking for a full time
automotive tech.
We offer a full benefit package
including medical, retirement, paid
vacations, continuing education
and all ASE certifications.
If you want to work in a professional
automotive repair shop that
emphasizes in doing the repair work
correctly, customer service and
satisfaction, has a clean, heated,
well stocked shop, large customer
base, proven track record and has
been in business for over
30 years.
If you are ready for a change now
is your chance! email resumes
to boxkauto@willapabay.org
Best Western Ocean View
Resort-Seaside, OR -
Open positions:
• ASSIST. HEAD HOUSEKEEPER
• HOUSEKEEPERS
• RESTAURANT SERVERS
• BARTENDAR
•FRONT DESK Guest Services
Rep. (GSR)
We are seeking friendly,
caring, hospitality oriented people
who enjoy serving guests with
superior "I-care" customer service
in a positive work environment.
We offer competitive wages with the
opportunity to earn incentive pay
through achievable goals.
Please apply in person at 414 N
Prom in Seaside, or email your
resume to:
HR@oceanviewresort.com
CAREGIVERS WANTED for
immediate hire in Tillamook,
Seaside, & Astoria. FT & PT, great
pay, & bonuses. Seeking both
companion caregivers & CNA's
and/or CG's w/ memory care
experience. Email name, contact
info, availability, & summary of
experience
office@caringforthecoast.com
LIVE OUTSIDE ASTORIA? To place
your ad in the Daily Astorian
Classifieds, simply dial:
1-800-781-3211
Itʼs fast and itʼs toll free!