This article is adopted under the authority of Texas Government Code, chapter 552, to establish regulations relative to requests made to the town for public information.
(Ordinance 2017-27 adopted 12/5/17)
The following words and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meaning ascribed to them by this section, or if not defined in this section, shall have that meaning customarily attributed to them.
Judicial record.
A record made or maintained by or for a court or judicial agency, including a municipal court, in its regular course of business but not pertaining to its adjudicative function, regardless of whether that function relates to a specific case. A record of any nature created, produced, or filed in specific relation to any adjudicative matter that is or has been before a court is not a judicial record. A record is a document, paper, letter, map, book, tape, photograph, film, recording, or other material, regardless of electronic or physical form, characteristics, or means of transmission.
Labor charge.
The statutorily-limited charge, as listed in appendix A, for locating, compiling, manipulating data, and reproducing public information as to all responses to a request for public information that:
(1) 
Exceeds 50 pages;
(2) 
Requires the provision of documents from two or more separate buildings that are not physically connected with each other; or
(3) 
Requires the provision of documents from a remote storage facility.
Nonstandard copy or oversized copy.
Any copy of public information that is made available to a requestor in any format other than a standard paper copy. Microfiche, microfilm, diskettes, magnetic tapes, CD-ROM are examples of nonstandard copies. Paper copies larger than 8-1/2 by 14 inches (legal size) are also considered nonstandard copies.
Overhead charge.
A charge that covers such costs as depreciation of capital asset, rent, maintenance and repair, utilities, and administrative overhead. The overhead charge shall be computed at 20% of the charge made to cover any labor charge associated with a particular public information request.
Personnel.
Town employees.
Personnel charge.
The actual cost to the town of personnel time - to the extent such time exceeds the monthly or annual limits under section 1.15.004 of this article - expended for locating, compiling, manipulating data, and reproducing public information association with a particular public information request, said actual cost being calculated by reducing to an hourly rate an employee’s annual salary and the value of all other compensation in the form of benefits received by said employee and multiplying said hourly rate by the time actually spent.
Program processing.
The execution of a sequence of coded instructions by a computer producing a result.
Programming labor charge. A charge for any services of a programmer required in the processing of a public information request while executing an existing program or in creating a new program so that requested information may be accessed and copied.
Public information request a/k/a open records request.
A request for information made in accordance with Texas Government Code, chapter 552 and in accordance with this article, as amended.
Requestor.
A person who submits a request to a governmental body for inspection or copies of public information.
Standard paper copy.
A copy of public information that is a printed impression on one side of a piece of paper that measures up to 8-1/2 by 14 inches (legal size). Each side of a piece of paper on which information is recorded is counted as a single copy. A piece of paper that has information recorded on both sides is counted as two copies.
Town.
The Town of Fairview, Texas.
(Ordinance 2017-27 adopted 12/5/17)
The town manager serves as the officer for public information (or “public information officer”) for the town. Unless otherwise specified by subsequent policy promulgated by the town manager, the town secretary is the sole designee of the public information officer responsible for receiving and processing public information requests. If the town secretary is or will be unavailable due to vacancy, vacation/sick leave, emergency, or other special circumstance authorized by the town manager, the town manager may temporarily designate an acting public information officer. Any designation of an acting public information officer shall expire immediately upon the town secretary’s return to duty, in absence of any special instructions which may be established by the town manager.
(Ordinance 2017-27 adopted 12/5/17)
(a) 
Personnel charges shall apply and be imposed on requestors for time spent by personnel in locating, compiling, manipulating data, and reproducing public information for inspection or duplication by a requestor or providing copies of public information to a requestor that is in excess of 15 cumulative hours during a one-month period, or in excess of 36 cumulative hours during a 12-month period corresponding with the fiscal year of the town. All requests from an individual requestor shall be aggregated for purposes of this section.
(b) 
Public information request by a minor.
In determining whether the time limit established under subsection (a) above applies, any time spent complying with a request for public information submitted in the name of a minor, as defined by section 101.003(a), Texas Family Code, is to be included in the calculation of the cumulative amount of time spent complying with a request for public information by a parent, guardian, or other person who has control of the minor under a court order and with whom the minor resides, unless that parent, guardian, or other person establishes that another person submitted that request in the name of the minor.
(c) 
This section does not apply if the requestor is an individual who, for a substantial portion of the individual’s livelihood or for substantial financial gain, gathers, compiles, prepares, collects, photographs, records, writes, edits, reports, investigates, processes, or publishes news or information for and is seeking the information for:
(1) 
Dissemination by a news medium (as defined by Tex. Gov’t Code section 552.275(m)(2)) or communications service provider (as defined by section 22.021, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code); including:
(A) 
An individual who supervises or assists in gathering, preparing, and disseminating the news or information; or
(B) 
An individual who is or was a journalist, scholar, or researcher employed by an institution of higher education at the time the person made the request for information; or
(2) 
Creation or maintenance of an abstract plant described by section 2501.004, Texas Insurance Code; or
(3) 
A publicly funded legal services organization that is exempt from federal income taxation under section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, by being listed as an exempt entity under section 501(c)(3) of that code.
(d) 
This section does not apply if the requestor is an elected official of the United States, this state, or a political subdivision of this state.
(Ordinance 2017-27 adopted 12/5/17)
Each time the town complies with a request for public information, the town shall provide the requestor with a written statement of the amount of personnel time spent complying with that request and the cumulative amount of time spent complying with requests for public information from that requestor during the applicable monthly or 12-month period. (The amount of time spent preparing the written statement may not be included in the amount of time included in the statement provided to the requestor under this subsection.)
(Ordinance 2017-27 adopted 12/5/17)
(a) 
Before complying with a public information request, the town shall provide a statement of estimated costs if:
(1) 
The town intends to impose a personnel charge;
(2) 
Copies made to comply with the request will exceed 50 pages;
(3) 
The public information request requires the provision of documents from two or more separate buildings that are not physically connected with each other;
(4) 
The public information request requires the provision of documents from a remote storage facility; or
(5) 
The estimated charges for complying with a public information request exceed $40.00.
(b) 
If the town intends to seek payment from a requestor for a personnel charge, a statement of estimated costs for such personnel charge(s) shall be provided to the requestor on or before the 10th day after the date on which the public information request was received by the town. If the town does not intend to seek payment from a requestor for a personnel charge, the town shall endeavor to provide a requestor a statement of estimated costs otherwise required under this section as soon as reasonably practical, but in no event shall the town charge a requestor in excess of $40.00 if the town does not provide an estimate of costs.
(Ordinance 2017-27 adopted 12/5/17)
(a) 
A statement of estimated costs provided under this article must include:
(1) 
An itemized estimate of charges, including any allowable charges for labor, overhead, copies, personnel time, programming time, etc.;
(2) 
Whether a less costly or no-cost way of viewing the information is available;
(3) 
A statement that the requestor must provide the town with mailing, facsimile transmission, or electronic mail address to receive the itemized statement and that it is the requestor’s choice as to which type of address to provide; and
(4) 
Statement that the requestor must respond in writing by mail, in person, by facsimile, or by electronic mail to the town secretary in response to the statement of estimated costs.
(b) 
A statement of estimated costs provided under this section must also include as an attachment a copy of the current version of Texas Government Code sec. 552.2615. A copy of sec. 552.2615, current at the time of adoption of this article, is attached to Ordinance 2017-27 and incorporated herein as if set forth in full.
(Ordinance 2017-27 adopted 12/5/17)
(a) 
Labor charges.
(1) 
Labor charges will be applied to any public information request that:
(A) 
Exceeds 50 pages in length;
(B) 
Requires the provision of documents from two or more separate buildings that are not physically connected with each other; or
(C) 
Requires the provision of documents from a remote storage facility.
(2) 
Labor charges are assessed as listed in appendix A, unless the town has been granted an exemption providing for a higher rate from the Texas Attorney General’s office. Details are available from the town secretary.
(3) 
Labor charges may not be charged to the requestor for any time spent by an attorney, legal assistant, or any other person who reviews the requested information:
(A) 
To determine whether the town will raise any exceptions to disclosure of the requested information under the Texas Government Code, subchapter C, chapter 552; or
(B) 
To research or prepare a request for a ruling by the Attorney General’s office pursuant to sec. 552.301 of the Texas Government Code.
(4) 
When confidential information pursuant to a mandatory exception of the Public Information Act is mixed with public information in the same page, a labor charge may be recovered for time spent to redact, blackout, or otherwise obscure confidential information in order to release the public information. A labor charge shall not be made for redacting confidential information for requests of 50 or fewer pages, unless the request also qualifies for a labor charge pursuant to Texas Government Code, sec. 552.261(a)(1) or (2).
(b) 
Programming labor charges.
If a public information request requires the services of a programmer in order to execute an existing program or to create a new program so that requested information may be accessed and copied, the town may charge for the programmer’s time as a programming labor charge in accordance with state law and the rules of the Attorney General.
(c) 
Personnel charges.
Personnel charges are calculated at an hourly rate for time spent by personnel in locating, compiling, manipulating data, and reproducing public information for inspection or duplication by a requestor or providing copies of public information to a requestor that is in excess of the 15 cumulative monthly hours or 36 cumulative hours in a 12-month period, said period to correspond to the fiscal year of the town. When personnel charges are applicable, the charge is calculated by determining the sum total of the actual cost of all employees’ time spent on a public information request. Whenever personnel charges are imposed, labor charges may not be imposed.
(Ordinance 2017-27 adopted 12/5/17)
(a) 
In addition to charging $0.10 per paper copy for standard copies, the charges for nonstandard copies shall apply with regard to all public information requests, as listed in appendix A.
(b) 
Charges for nonstandard copies or oversized copies are applicable to all public information requests, regardless of the number of pages requested or the time involved in responding to the public information request.
(c) 
Microfiche and microfilm charge.
(1) 
If the town already has information that exists on microfiche or microfilm and has copies available for sale or distribution, the charge for a copy must not exceed the cost of its reproduction. If no copies of the requested microfiche or microfilm are available and the information on the microfiche or microfilm can be released in its entirety, the town may make a copy of the microfiche or microfilm. The charge for a copy shall not exceed the cost of its reproduction.
(2) 
If only a master copy of the information in microfilm is maintained, the charge is $0.10 per page for standard paper copies, plus any applicable labor and overhead charge(s) for more than 50 copies.
(d) 
Remote document retrieval.
If the town has a contract with a commercial records storage company, whereby the private company charges a fee to locate, retrieve, deliver, and return to storage the needed record(s), no additional labor charge shall be factored in for time spent locating documents at the storage location by the private company’s personnel. If after delivery to the town, the materials must still be searched for records that are responsive to the request, the town may charge for such search in accordance with this article.
(e) 
Computer resource charge.
As listed in appendix A.
(f) 
Miscellaneous supplies.
The actual cost of miscellaneous supplies, such as labels, boxes, and other supplies used to produce the requested information, may be added to the total charge for public information.
(g) 
Postal and shipping charges.
The town may add any related postal or shipping expenses that are necessary to transmit the reproduced information to the requesting party.
(h) 
Miscellaneous charges.
If the town accepts payment by credit card for copies of public information and is charged a “transaction fee” by the credit card company, the town may recover that fee from the requestor.
(Ordinance 2017-27 adopted 12/5/17)
(a) 
In order to be considered valid and treated as a public information request, a communication to the town must:
(1) 
Be addressed conspicuously to the attention of and delivered only to the officer for public information at a mailing address, physical address, or email address provided by the officer for public information;
(2) 
Be in writing, state that it is a request for public information, and state the requester’s name, mailing address, telephone number, and all additional information necessary to allow a response to be sent to a particular place or address; and
(3) 
Include a description of the information requested that is sufficiently specific to enable the town to accurately identify any information that may be responsive to the request.
(b) 
A public information request may only be delivered by hand, mail, email, or private courier or commercial delivery service using an address or location authorized by the town.
(c) 
Any submission addressed or delivered to any person other than the public information officer or the officer’s designee shall not be considered a public information request.
(Ordinance 2019-16 adopted 9/3/19)
The public information officer, or a person designated by the officer, shall implement the provisions of this article.
(Ordinance 2017-27 adopted 12/5/17)
Judicial records are not covered by the Public Information Act or the public information regulations enacted by the town. Judicial records shall not be disclosed in response to a request for public information. A public information request for judicial records shall be returned to the requestor. A request for judicial records may be sent to the municipal court that maintains such record and such requests shall be governed by the regulations adopted by such court.
(Ordinance 2017-27 adopted 12/5/17)