City of Monroe, WI Public Records

Except as provided otherwise in this chapter, each officer and employee of the City shall safely keep and preserve all records received from his or her predecessor or other persons as required by law to be kept in his or her office or which are in the lawful possession or control of the officer or employee or his or her deputies.

Upon the expiration of an officer's term of office or an employee's term of employment, or whenever the office or position of employment becomes vacant, each such officer or employee shall deliver to his or her successor all records then in his or her custody and the successor shall receipt therefore to the officer or employee, who shall file said receipt with the City Clerk. If a vacancy occurs before a successor is selected or qualifies, such records shall be delivered to and receipted for by the officer's or employee's supervisor, on behalf of the successor, to be delivered to such successor upon the latter's receipt.

§ 1-16-4 Legal custodian.

[1-7-2019]

The City Clerk shall act as the legal custodian of the records of the Council and for any committees, commissions, boards, or other authorities created by ordinance or resolution of the Council.

Each elected official shall be the custodian of their individual official records, such as their correspondence, memorandums and e-mail. Any elected official may designate, in writing, the City Clerk to act as the official custodian of the elected official's records.

For every department, the department head is the custodian of records for their department.

Every custodian of records shall designate, in writing, one or more employees to act in his or her absence as an alternate custodian of such records.

§ 1-16-5 Public access to records.

[1-7-2019]

Except as provided in § 1-16-7, any person has a right to inspect a record and to make or receive a copy of any record as provided in Wis. Stats. § 19.35(1).

Records will be available for inspection and copying during all regular office hours.

A requester shall be permitted to use facilities comparable to those available to City employees to inspect, copy or abstract a record.

The legal custodian may require supervision during inspection or may impose other reasonable restrictions on the manner of access to an original record if the record is irreplaceable or easily damaged.

(E)

A requester shall be charged a fee to defray the cost of locating and copying records as follows:

(1)

The reasonable cost of photocopying charged to and paid by requesters shall be established and may be adjusted, from time to time, by resolution of Council.

(2)

If the form of a written record does not permit copying, the actual and necessary cost of photographing and photographic processing shall be charged.

(3)

The actual full cost of providing a copy of other records not in printed form on paper, such as films, computer printouts CDs and audio or videotapes, shall be charged to the requester.

(4)

If mailing or shipping is necessary, the actual cost thereof shall also be charged to the requester.

(5)

There shall be no charge for locating a record unless the actual cost therefor exceeds $50, in which case the actual cost shall be determined by the legal custodian and billed to the requester.

(6)

The legal custodian shall estimate the cost of all applicable fees and may require payment in advance, if the estimate exceeds $5.

(7)

Elected and appointed officials of the City shall not be required to pay for public records they may reasonably require for the proper performance of their official duties.

(8)

The legal custodian may provide copies of a record without charge or at a reduced charged where he or she determines that waiver or reduction of the fee is in the public interest.

(F)

Pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 19.34, the City shall adopt and prominently display and make available for inspection and copying at its offices, for the guidance of the public, a notice containing a description of its organization and the established times and places at which, the legal custodian from whom, and the methods whereby, the public may obtain information and access to records in its custody, make requests for records, or obtain copies of records, and the costs thereof.

§ 1-16-6 Access procedures.

[1-7-2019]

A request to inspect or copy a record shall be made to the legal custodian. A request shall be deemed sufficient if it reasonably describes the requested record or the information requested. However, a request for a record without a reasonable limitation as to subject matter or length of time represented by the record does not constitute a sufficient request. A request may be made orally, but a request must be in writing before an action to enforce the request is commenced under Wis. Stats. § 19.37. Except as provided below, no request may be refused because the person making the request is unwilling to be identified or to state the purpose of the request. No request may be refused because the request is received by mail, unless prepayment of a fee is required under § 1-16-5(E)(6). A requester may be required to show acceptable identification whenever the requested record is kept at a private residence or whenever security reasons or federal law or regulations so require.

Each legal custodian, upon request for any record, shall, as soon as practicable and without delay, either fill the request or notify the requester of the authority's determination to deny the request in whole or in part and the reason therefor. If the legal custodian, after conferring with the City Attorney, determines that a written request is so general as to be unduly time consuming, the party making the request may first be required to itemize his or her request if a manner which would permit reasonable compliance.

A request for a record may be denied as provided in § 1-16-7. If a request is made orally, the request may be denied orally unless a demand for a written statement of the reasons denying the request is made by the requester within five business days of the oral denial. If a written request is denied, in whole or in part, the requester shall receive a written statement of the reasons for denying the request. Every written denial of a request shall inform the requester that if the request for the record was made in writing, then the determination is subject to review upon petition for a writ of mandamus under Wis. Stats. § 19.37(1), or upon application to the attorney general or the district attorney.

§ 1-16-7 Limitations on right to access.

[1-7-2019]

Any record which is specifically exempted from disclosure by state or federal law or authorized to be exempted from disclosure by state law, including those records identified in Wis. Stats. § 19.36, is exempt from disclosure except that any portion of that record which contains public information is open to public inspection.

In responding to a request for inspection or copying of a record which is not specifically exempt from disclosure, the legal custodian, after conferring with the City Attorney, may deny the request, in whole or in part, if he or she determines that the harm to the public interest resulting from disclosure would outweigh the public interest in full access to the requested record.

If a record contains information that may be made public and information that may not be made public, the legal custodian of the record shall provide the information that may be made public and delete the information that may not be made public from the record before release. The legal custodian shall confer with the City Attorney prior to releasing any such record. If in the judgment of the legal custodian and the City Attorney there is no feasible way to separate the exempt material from the nonexempt material without unreasonable jeopardizing nondisclosure of the exempt material, the entire record shall be withheld from disclosure.

There is no right to access to any record which has been legally destroyed.

§ 1-16-8 Preservation of records through electronic formatting.

[1-7-2019]

Any legal custodian may keep and preserve a record in his or her possession by means of microfilm or another reproductive device, optical imaging or electronic formatting. Any photographic reproduction of a record shall be deemed an original record for all purposes if it meets the applicable standards established in Wis. Stats. §§ 16.61(7) and 16.612, and shall be considered preserved, shall be open to public inspection and copying according to the provision of state law and of this chapter, and may be legally destroyed.

§ 1-16-9 Retention of records.

[1-7-2019]

The City hereby adopts and incorporates, as though fully set forth herein, the records retention schedule as stated in the General Records Schedule for Wisconsin Municipal and Related Records approved by the Public Records Board on August 27, 2018, inclusive of all future amendments and revisions to such retention schedule. A copy of the General Records Schedule shall be maintained in the office of the City Clerk.

§ 1-16-10 Destruction of records.

[1-7-2019]

No legal custodian may destroy any record prior to the expiration of the period of time that such record is required to be retained under § 1-16-9.

No legal custodian may destroy any obsolete record until such record has first been offered to the State Historical Society in accordance with Wis. Stats. § 19.21(4)(a). Any legal custodian may apply to the State Historical Society for a waiver of this requirement as to certain categories of records under such person's authority that they reasonably believe have little or no significant historical value.

No legal custodian may destroy any record at any time after the receipt of a request for inspection or copying of the record until after the request is granted or until at least 60 days after the date that the request is denied. If any legal action is pending regarding or related to the record, the record may not be destroyed without the express authorization of the City Attorney. No record that is the object of or which has been produced pursuant to a discovery order or a subpoena may be destroyed without the express consent of the City Attorney.

No legal custodian may destroy any record that has been identified as, or that may have value as, evidence in any civil or criminal legal proceeding, labor arbitration or disciplinary action. No record may be destroyed at any time within 60 days of the denial of a request to review the record or any part thereof.

(E)

No legal custodian may destroy any record where any contract, grant, funding conditions, state or federal statute require that such records be maintained for a longer period of time than specified in the retention schedule under § 1-16-9.

§ 1-16-11 Release of closed meeting records.

[1-7-2019]

The Council, upon majority vote, may release any record, or part thereof, except for those records that are required by state or federal law to be kept confidential, for any record of the Council or for any record for any committees, commissions, boards, or other authorities created by ordinance or resolution of the Council. In lieu or releasing the record or part thereof, the Council may direct that a summary of the information may be disclosed.