Commission Defends Public Information Policy

The Taylors Sewer and Fire Commission is still sticking to its guns regarding a change to its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) policy made two weeks ago. 

Commission Chairman Doug Wavle said that last month, a member of the public made a FOIA for a voluminous amount of information, the production of which took district employees away from their duties. 

Former commission chair Jean Dixon acknowledged she was the one who made the request, which was for the audit report done last month on the district's finances, as well as past balance information. Dixon's bill for the information came to $166, but her request also served as the impetus for the new policy, which delineates minimum hourly charges of $18, $28 and $33, depending on what kind of employee was needed to fulfill the request. 

"If you're thinking about actual costs, you have to realize, if you send in a request that takes an employee several hours to do, you're taking that person away from his actual duties, so to complete it and his regular work, you're probably paying him overtime," Wavle said. 

Wavle also said the minimum rates were based not just on the salaries of the employees who would be taking time away from their usual duties, but an overall compensation that includes benefits. 

"It's not just a fundraiser," he said. "It's justified."

The statement was a clear reference to a comment made by Bill Rogers, S.C. Press Association executive director, in a recent article about the issue in the Greenville News. 

Wavle asserts that common sense would still rule in a case of simple requests, and that even the new policy itself says the district "may charge," instead of "will charge" the minimum hourly rates. Dixon said she wasn't surprised or angered by the $166 bill for her request. 

"I've been paying $15 an hour for someone to copy my stuff. They've been doing that to me for years," Dixon said. "I've always been charged that, so why complain?"

In a letter obtained by Taylors Patch sent from Sewer Services Director Samantha Bartow requesting legal opinions on the matter, Bartow justified the policy on the basis of not only copies and research, but of supervision when someone simply wants to review information. 

"If we have someone come in our office to look over documents, we have to monitor what they are doing. We/I have the responsibility of making sure all of our records are properly safeguarded. Visitor's/FOIA Requesters can't be allowed to be unsupervised. Many of these records are one of a kind and can't be allowed to be lost or stolen," the letter reads. 

According to Bartow, the process for fulfilling a FOIA request involves receiving the request (which she projects as taking five minutes), initial review of the request (which takes at least 10 minutes), a review with each commissioner, finally followed by the pulling together of the actual information. 

"Time is also required to document and file in order to show that we properly complied with the FOIA request," Bartow writes.