Source: https://ecode360.com/15563681
Timestamp: 2019-08-17 17:16:46
Document Index: 196324681

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 148', '§ 148', '§ 148', '§ 148', '§ 148', '§ 1', '§ 19', '§ 148', '§ 148', '§ 148', '§ 19', '§ 1', '§ 19', '§ 148', '§ 148', '§ 19', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 19', '§ 148', '§ 1', '§ 1']

City of Fond du Lac, WI Records
§ 148-2 Duty to maintain records.
§ 148-3 Legal custodians.
§ 148-4 Public access to records.
§ 148-5 Access procedures.
§ 148-6 Limitations on right to access.
Chapter 148 Records
[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Fond du Lac 6-23-1993 by Ord. No. 2679 as § 1.11 of the 1993 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
Any of the following having custody of a record: an office, elected or appointed official, agency, board, commission, committee, council, municipal court, department or public body corporate and politic created by constitution, law, ordinance, rule or order, a formally constituted subunit of the foregoing, or any other person or entity so designated by § 19.32(1), Wis. Stats.[1]
That officer, department head, division head or employee of the City designated under § 148-3 or otherwise responsible by law to keep and preserve any City records or file, deposit or keep such records in his office, or who is lawfully in possession or entitled to possession of such public records and who is required by this chapter to respond to requests for access to such records.
Any material on which written, drawn, printed, spoken, visual or electromagnetic information is recorded or preserved, regardless of physical form or characteristics, which has been created or is being kept by an authority. "Record" includes, but is not limited to, handwritten, typed or printed pages, maps, charts, photographs, films, recordings, tapes (including computer tapes), computer printouts and optical disks. "Record" does not include drafts, notes, preliminary computations and like materials prepared for the originator's personal use or prepared by the originator in the name of a person for whom the originator is working; materials which are purely the personal property of the custodian and have no relation to his office; materials to which access is limited by copyright, patent or bequest; and published materials in the possession of an authority other than a public library which are available for sale, or which are available for inspection at a public library.[2]
§ 148-2 Duty to maintain records. [1]
Each officer and employee of the City shall safely keep and preserve all records received from his predecessor or other persons and required by law to be filed, deposited or kept in his office or which are in the lawful possession or control of the officer or employee or his deputies, or to the possession or control of which he or they may be lawfully entitled as such officers or employees.
Upon the expiration of an officer's term of office or an employee's term of employment, or whenever the office or position of employment becomes vacant, each such officer or employee shall deliver to his successor all records then in his custody, and the successor shall receipt therefor to the officer or employee who shall file such receipt with the City Manager. If a vacancy occurs before a successor is selected or qualifies, such records shall be delivered to and received by an appropriate party, on behalf of the successor, to be delivered to such successor upon the latter's receipt.
Each elected or appointed official is the legal custodian of his records and the records of his office, but the official may designate an employee of his staff to act as the legal custodian.
For every authority not specified in Subsection A or B, the authority's chief administrative officer is the legal custodian for the authority, but the officer may designate an employee of his staff to act as the legal custodian.
Each legal custodian shall name a person to act as legal custodian in his absence or the absence of his designee.
Except as provided in § 148-6, any person has a right to inspect a record and to make or receive a copy of any record as provided in § 19.35(1), Wis. Stats.
The cost of photocopying shall be set by resolution of the City Council. Such cost shall be calculated not to exceed the actual, necessary and direct cost of reproduction.[1]
The actual full cost of providing a copy of other records not in printed form on paper, such as films, computer printouts and audio or video tapes, shall be charged.
The legal custodian may provide copies of a record without charge or at a reduced charge where he determines waiver or reduction of the fee to be in the public interest.[2]
Editor's Note: Original § 1.11(4)(g), which immediately followed this subsection, was repealed at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II).
A request to inspect or copy a record shall be made to the legal custodian. A request shall be deemed sufficient if it reasonably describes the requested record or the information requested. However, a request for a record without a reasonable limitation as to subject matter or length of time represented by the record does not constitute a sufficient request. A request may be made orally, but a request must be in writing before an action to enforce the request is commenced under § 19.37, Wis. Stats. Except as provided below, no request may be refused because the person making the request is unwilling to be identified or to state the purpose of the request. No request may be refused because the request is received by mail, unless prepayment of a fee is required under § 148-4F(6). A requester may be required to show acceptable identification whenever the requested record is kept at a private residence or whenever security reasons or federal law or regulations so require.
Each custodian, upon request for any record, shall, as soon as practicable and without delay, either fill the request or notify the requester of the authority's determination to deny the request in whole or in part and the reasons therefor. If the legal custodian, after conferring with the City Attorney, determines that a written request is so general as to be unduly time consuming, the party making the request may first be required to itemize his request in a manner which would permit reasonable compliance.
A request for a record may be denied as provided in § 148-6. If a request is made orally, the request may be denied orally unless a demand for a written statement of the reasons for denying the request is made by the requester within five business days of the oral denial. If a written request is denied in whole or in part, the requester shall receive a written statement of the reasons for denying the request. Every written denial of a request shall inform the requester that if the request for the record was made in writing, then the determination is subject to review upon petition for a writ of mandamus under § 19.37(1), Wis. Stats., or upon application to the Attorney General or a district attorney.
Whenever the Assessor, in the performance of the Assessor's duties, requests or obtains income and expense information pursuant to § 70.47(7)(af), Wis. Stats., or any successor statute thereto, then such income and expense information that is provided to the Assessor shall be held by the Assessor on a confidential basis; except, however, that said information may be revealed to and used by persons in the discharge of duties imposed by law, in the discharge of duties imposed by office (including but not limited to use by the Assessor in performance of official duties of the Assessor's office and use by the Board of Review in performance of its official duties), or pursuant to order of the court. Income and expense information provided to the Assessor under § 70.47(7)(af), Wis. Stats., unless a court determines that it is inaccurate, is, per § 70.47(7)(af), Wis. Stats., not subject to the right of inspection and copying under § 19.35(1), Wis. Stats., or § 148-4 of this chapter.
[Amended 9-8-1999 by Ord. No. 2977]
In responding to a request for inspection or copying of a record which is not specifically exempt from disclosure, the legal custodian, after conferring with the City Attorney, may deny the request, in whole or in part, only if he determines that the harm to the public interest resulting from disclosure would outweigh the public interest in full access to the requested record. Examples of matters for which disclosure may be refused include, but are not limited to, the following:
Records of current deliberations concerning employment, dismissal, demotion, compensation, performance or discipline of any City officer or employee, or the investigation of charges against a City officer or employee, unless such officer or employee consents to such disclosure.
If a record contains information that may be made public and information that may not be made public, the custodian of the record shall provide the information that may be made public and delete the information that may not be made public from the record before release. The custodian shall confer with the City Attorney prior to releasing any such record and shall follow the guidance of the City Attorney when separating out the exempt material. If, in the judgment of the custodian and the City Attorney, there is no feasible way to separate the exempt material from the nonexempt material without unreasonably jeopardizing nondisclosure of the exempt material, the entire record shall be withheld from disclosure.[1]
Editor's Note: Original § 1.11(7), Destruction of records, amended 2-23-1994 by Ord. No. 2726, and § 1.11(8), Preservation through microfilm, which immediately followed this section, were repealed at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II).