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Right To Know
City of Coatesville Right-to-Know Policy
1. Open Record Officer
The City of Coatesville hereby designates Ruthann Mowday as its Open Records Officer, and the City of Coatesville Police Department designates Sandra Steen as its Open Records Officer.
The Open Records Officer(s) may be reached at:
Address: Ruthann Mowday Sandra Steen
City of Coatesville City of Coatesville
One City Hall Place Coatesville Police Department
Coatesville, Pa 19320 One City Hall Place
Telephone: 610-384-0300 Coatesville, PA 19320
Fax: 610-384-3612 Telephone: 610-384-4635
Email: Admin@coatesville.org Fax: 610-384-1921
Email: stesan@coatesville.org
The Open Records Officer shall:
- Receive requests submitted to the City of Coatesville;
- Direct requests to other appropriate persons within the City of Coatesville;
- Track the City's progress in responding to requests;
- Issue interim and final responses under the Right-To-Know Act.
- Immediately refer all requests for criminal investigation records under the Open Records Act to the Open Records Officer of Coatesville Police Department.
2. General
All documents deemed public records shall be available for inspection, retrieval, and duplication at the Municipal Building during established business hours (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) with the exception of weekends and holidays. The City of Coatesville shall not be required to create a record which does not currently exist or to compile, maintain, format or organize a record in a manner in which the City of Coatesville does not currently compile, maintain, format or organize the record.
3. Public Posting
The Following Information shall be posted in a publicly prominent place at the City of Coatesville Building and on the City’s internet website:
- Contact information for the open-records officer(s);
- Contact information for the Office of Open Records or other applicable appeals officer;
- A form which may be used to file a request; Standard Right to Know Form
- Regulations, policies and procedures of the City of Coatesville relating to the Right-To-Know Act;
- The internet address of the Office of Open Records Website. Office of Open Records Website
4. Requests:
Requests shall be made in writing to the City's Open Records Officer on a form provided by the City of Coatesville.
5. Fees
Fees shall be in accordance with the attached fee schedule and may be amended from time to tine by Resolution of the City Council.
6. Response
The City of Coatesville shall make a good-faith effort to provide the requested public record(s) as promptly as possible. The Open Records Officer(s) shall cooperate with those requesting records to review and/or duplicate original City’s documents while taking reasonable measure to protect City’s documents from the possibility of theft, damage, and/or modification.
The Open Records Officer shall review all written requests for access to public records. As soon as possible, but no later than five business days after receiving a written request to access public records, the Open Records Officer shall respond to such requests in writing consistent with Act 3 of 2008, the
Right-to-Know Law.If access to a record is denied, the response shall include a reason for denial as stipulated in Act 3 of 2008, the Right-to-Know Law. Form response letters granting the request, denying the request, and
granting the request in part and denying the request in part are attached to these policies.
7. Contact Information for Appeals
If a written request is denied or deemed denied, the requester may file an appeal in writing to:
Office of Open Records
Commonwealth Keystone Building
400 North Street, Plaza Level
Harrisburg, PA 17120-0225
8. Appeals Process
The appeal shall be filed within 15 business days of the mailing date of the city’s response or within 15 business days of a deemed denial. The appeal shall state the grounds upon which the requester asserts the record(s) is (are) a public record and shall address any grounds stated by the City for delaying or denying the request.
Fee Schedule
Copies: 25¢ per page
(A “photocopy” is either a single-sided copy or one side of a double-sided black-and-white copy of a standard 8.5” x 11” page) 25¢ per page
Certification of a Record: $1 per record, not per page.
Please note that certification fees do not include notarization fees.
Specialized documents: Actual Cost
For example, but not limited to, blue prints, color copies, non-standard sized documents
Facsimile/Microfiche/Other Media: Actual Cost
Redaction Fee: No Redaction Fee May be imposed
Conversion to Paper
If a record is only maintained electronically or in other nonpaper media, duplication fees shall be limited to the lesser of the fee for duplication on paper or the fee for duplication in the original media unless the requester specifically requests for the record to be duplicated in the more expensive medium.
Postage Fees
Fees for Postage May Not Exceed the Actual Cost of Mailing
Statutory Fees
If a separate statute authorizes the City of Coatesville to charge a set amount for a certain type of record, the City may charge no more than that statutory amount.
Inspection of Redacted Records
If a requester wishes to inspect rather than receive a copy of a record and the record contains both public and non-public information, the City shall redact the nonpublic information. The City may not charge the requester for the redaction. However, the City may charge for the copies it must make of the redacted material in order for the requester to view the public record. The fee structure outlined above will apply. If, after inspecting the records, the requester chooses to obtain the copies, no additional fee will be charged.
Fee Limitations
Except as otherwise provided by statute as noted above, no other fees may be imposed unless the City of Coatesville necessarily incurs costs for complying with the request, and such fees must be reasonable. No fee may be imposed for the City’s review of a record to determine whether the record is a public record, legislative record or financial record subject to access in accordance with the Right-To-Know Act. No fee may be charged for searching for or retrieval of documents. The City may not charge staff time or salary for complying with a Right-To-Know request.
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