City of Rochester, NY Chapter 18 Public Records

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Rochester City Council 2-11-1975 by Ord. No. 75-55; amended in its entirety 6-14-1988 by Ord. No. 88-217. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]

§ 18-1 Access to records.

A. Two Municipal Attorneys designated by the Mayor shall be the Records Access Officers of the City of Rochester to whom requests for access to City records shall be made pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law.[1] The Records Access Officers may establish procedures governing access to records in accordance with the Freedom of Information Law.

[Amended 12-17-1991 by Ord. No. 91-530; 4-16-1996 by Ord. No. 96-125; 3-16-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-65]

[1] Editor's Note: See Art. 6 of the Public Officers Law.

B. The Corporation Counsel of the City of Rochester shall hear and determine appeals regarding a denial of access to records under the Freedom of Information Law.

C. The Records Access Officer shall provide the Council of the City of Rochester with a monthly report of all denied records access requests, including the identity of the requestor, a brief summary of the nature of the request and the reason for the denial. Further, the Corporation Counsel shall provide the Council of the City of Rochester with a separate monthly report of all denied appeals, including the identity of the requestor, the nature of the request and the reason for the denial of the appeal.

[Added 10-12-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-338]

§ 18-2 Personal privacy.

The records access officer shall deny access to any records or portions thereof that, if disclosed, would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

§ 18-3 Fees.

A. The fee for photocopies of records shall be $0.25 per page not exceeding nine inches by 14 inches in size. The fees for other types of copies shall be such reasonable amounts as the records access officer shall establish, provided that such fees shall not exceed the actual cost of reproducing such records, except when a different fee is otherwise prescribed by statute. Notwithstanding the above, the records access officer may, in his or her discretion, waive all or any portion of the fees authorized by this section for any record or class of records for good cause shown.

B. The City Engineer is authorized to sell printed copies of deed information recorded by the City for the sum of $2 per sheet. The City Engineer is authorized to sell prints of City Assessment Maps, Land Value Maps, Tax District Index Maps and office copies of Subdivision Maps and other public maps for the following fees:

[Added 11-19-1991 by Ord. No. 91-499; amended 6-15-1999 by Ord. No. 99-195; 6-22-2004 by Ord. No. 2004-170[1]]

Description	Fee
8.5 inches x 11 inches	$5.00
11 inches x 17 inches	$5.25
18 inches x 24 inches	$5.75
24 inches x 36 inches	$6.80
Ward Maps	$6.25
2,000 scale	$6.25
1,000 scale	$10.25
SBL Map	$7.50

[1] Editor's Note: This ordinance provided an effective date of 7-1-2004.

§ 18-4 Retention of records.

[Added 10-13-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-304]

A. In accordance with Article 57-A of the NYS Arts and Cultural Affairs Law, only those records will be disposed of that are described in the Retention and Disposition Schedule for New York Local Government Records (Schedule LGS-1), after they have met the minimum retention periods described therein.

B. After the minimum retention period prescribed in Schedule LGS-1, only those records will be disposed of that do not have sufficient administrative, fiscal, legal, or historical value to merit retention beyond established legal minimum periods, as may be prescribed in rules or schedules issued by the City's Records Management Officer.

C. The Schedule LGS-1 and any City record retention rules or schedules issued by the Records Management Officer shall be kept on file with the City Clerk.