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Home My WebLink About2018-O-14 - Repeat Open Records Requestors ORDINANCE NO. 2018-0-14 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF STEPHENVILLE,TEXAS AMENDING THE CODE OF ORDINANCES CHAPTER 35 "MUNICIPAL RECORDS" BY ADDING SECTION 35.12 REPEAT OPEN RECORD REQUESTORS ESTABLISHING MONTHLY AND ANNUAL TIME LIMITS ON TIME SPENT BY CITY PERSONNEL ON RESPONDING TO A REQUESTOR OF PUBLIC INFORMATION; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE WHEREAS, during the 85th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature, the Texas Legislature passed H.B. 3107 amending the Public Information Act (Chapter 552 of the Texas Government Code) to allow government entities to establish reasonable monthly and yearly limits on the amount of time that personnel of the governmental entity is required to spend producing public information for inspection or duplication by a requestor, or providing copies of public information to a requestor, without recovering its costs attributable to that personnel time; and WHEREAS, harassing, repetitive, and/or redundant public information requests asking for a large amount of information (known as "vexatious requests") can impose great financial and time burdens on the City, as vexatious requests typically require City personnel to divert their time spent on normal tasks to locate, compile, and reproduce the requested information; and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Stephenville finds it to be in the best public interest to amend Chapter 35 "Municipal Records" to establish reasonable monthly and yearly limits on the amount of time that City personnel is required to spend producing public information for inspection or duplication by a requestor, or providing copies of public information to a requestor, without recovering the City's costs attributable to that personnel time. NOW,THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF STEPHENVILLE,TEXAS,THAT: Section 1 Chapter 35 "Municipal Records" of the City of Stephenville Code of Ordinances is hereby amended by adding section 32.12 "Repeat Open Record Requestors" to read as follows: Chapter 35.12 REPEAT OPEN RECORD REQUESTORS 35.121 Time Limits A. In accordance with Texas Government Code Section 552.275, the City Council establishes a limit of 15 hours as the amount of time that employees are required to devote without charge to produce public information for inspection or duplication, or providing copies of public information to or on behalf of any one requestor in any given monthly period commencing on the 1st date of each month, without recovering the city's costs attributable to that personnel time. Ordinance No.2018-0-14 Page 1 of 4 Repeat Open Record Requestors B. In accordance with Texas Government Code Section 552.275, the City Council establishes a limit of 36 hours as the amount of time that employees are required to devote without charge to produce public information for inspection or duplication, or providing copies of public information to or on behalf of any one requestor in any given twelve-month period commencing on October 1, without recovering the city's costs attributable to that personnel time. Section 32.122 Written estimate of personnel time spent on requests A. The City Secretary or the City Secretary's designee shall provide the requestor with a written statement of the amount of personnel time spent complying with each request and the cumulative amount of time spent complying with requests from that requestor during the applicable twelve month period. The time spent preparing the written statement of total time spent may not be included. B. When the time spent on responding to a particular requestor's requests equals or exceeds the time limit imposed by Section 35.121, the City Secretary or the City Secretary's designee shall provide the requestor with a written estimate of the total cost, including materials, personnel time, and overhead expenses necessary to comply with the request. The estimate must be provided on or before the tenth (10th) day after the date on which the public information was requested. The amount of the cost shall be established by rules prescribed by the attorney general. C. If the City Secretary or the City Secretary's designee determines that additional time is required to prepare the written estimate of costs required by Section 1.3802(B) and provides the requestor with a written statement of that determination, the City Secretary or the City Secretary's designee must provide the written estimate of costs required by Section 1.3802(B) as soon as practicable, but on or before the 10th day after the date the City provides the written statement that additional time is required. Section 32.133 Requestor response to estimate of costs A. After the City Secretary or the City Secretary's designee has provided the requestor with the written estimate of costs under Section 1.3802, the requestor must respond within ten (10) days of receiving the estimate by submitting a written statement in which the requestor commits to pay the lesser of: 1. the actual costs incurred in complying with the requestor's request, including the cost of materials and personnel time and overhead; or 2. the amount stated in the written statement provided. Ordinance No.2018-0-14 Page 2 of 4 Repeat Open Record Requestors B. If the requestor fails or refuses to submit the written statement of commitment to pay, the requestor shall be considered to have withdrawn the requestor's pending request for public information. Section 32.134- Requests in the name of a minor Any time spent complying with a request in the name of a minor 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. Section 32.135 - Exemptions A. This ordinance 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. A radio or television broadcast station that holds a license issued by the Federal Communications Commission; or 2. A newspaper that is qualified under section 2051.044 of the Texas Government Code to publish legal notices or is a free newspaper of general circulation and that is published at least once a week and available and of interest to the general public in connection with the dissemination of news; or 3. A newspaper of general circulation that is published on the Internet by a news medium engaged in the business of disseminating news or general information to the general public; or 4. A magazine that is published at least once a week or on the Internet by a news medium engaged in the business of disseminating news or information to the general public. B. This ordinance does not apply if the requestor is a representative of 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. C. This ordinance does not apply if the requestor is an elected official of the United States,this state, or a political subdivision of this state. Ordinance No.2018-0-14 Page 3 of 4 Repeat Open Record Requestors Onmik Section 2 Should any sentence, paragraph, subdivision, clause, phrase or section of this Ordinance be adjudged or held to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, the same shall not affect the validity of this Ordinance as a whole, or any part or provision thereof other than the part so decided to be invalid, illegal or unconstitutional, and shall not affect the validity of the Ordinance as a whole. Section 3 This Ordinance shall become effective upon its adoption. PASSED AND APPROVED this the 3rd day of April, 2018. 41/ sss �\'s "•• � Jer y K.v eldon, II, Mayor ATTEST: i*� , , mE � S L C�RpnR�� A Staci L. ing, City Secret. Reviewed by Allen L. Barnes, City Administrator Randy Thomas, City Attorney Approved as to form and legality ISR'' Ordinance No.2018-0-14 Page 4 of 4 Repeat Open Record Requestors