COSTILLA COUNTY CONSERVANCY DISTRICT
OPEN RECORDS POLICY
ARTICLE I
Definitions
“Public records” means and includes all writings made, maintained, or kept by the Costilla County Conservancy District including correspondence unless the correspondence is work product, attorney client communication, or violates another state or federal statute or court finding.
ARTICLE II
Section 1.01 –Records Requests:
The Board shall accept only records requests made in writing, or electronically via e-mail. Records requests or requestors that cite the federal Freedom of Information Act shall be treated as though they were made pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act. The Board adopts Exhibit A as a form for document requests.
Section 1.02 – Deadlines to Respond to Requests:
When responding to a records request, the Board shall make every effort to respond within three working days as required by § 24-72-203(3)(b), C.R.S. The three working-day response time begins the first working day following receipt of the request. A request received after 4:00 p.m. will be considered received as of the following business day (i.e., an email received at 4:09 p.m. Monday will be considered received Tuesday and will be responded to by close of business Friday; a letter received Saturday will be considered received Monday and responded to by close of business Thursday). The CCCD can add up to a seven-working-day extension if extenuating circumstances apply, as defined in § 24-72-203(3)(b), C.R.S.
Section 1.03 – Extenuating Circumstances:
Extenuating circumstances include a broadly stated request which encompasses all or substantially all of a large category of records and the request is without sufficient specificity to allow the Board reasonably to prepare or gather the records with the three-day period; or a broadly stated request is made that encompasses all or substantially all of a large category of records and the agency is unable to prepare or gather the records within the three-day period because:
1. The agency needs to devote all or substantially all of its resources to meeting an impending deadline or period of peak demand that is either unique or not predicted to recur more frequently than once a month; or
2. Request involves such a large volume of records that the Board cannot reasonably prepare or gather the records within the three-day period without substantially interfering with the Board’s obligation to perform his or her other public service responsibilities.
(b) In no event, can extenuating circumstances apply to a request that relates to a single specifically identified document.
Section 1.04 – Not the Custodian:
When the CCCD is not the custodian of the record(s) requested, the Administrator shall respond with a formal written notice and, whenever possible, will identify and provide contact information for the correct custodian.
Section 1.05 – Alterations:
All necessary steps shall be taken to ensure that all confidential information including all personal identifying information is redacted prior to disclosure.
Section 1.06 – Inspections
The Colorado Open Records Act guarantees that all public records shall be open for inspection by any person at reasonable times except as otherwise provided by law. If the Board cannot produce the records for inspection when the request is made, the board shall set a date and time to do so within a reasonable amount of time (three business days) unless extenuating circumstances exist as set out above.
Section 1.07 – Denial of Inspection or Reproduction:
The Board shall deny any request for inspection for the following:
(a) Records and information relating to the identification of persons file with, maintained by, or prepared by the department of revenue pursuant to section 42-2-121, C.R.S.
(b) Records of the expenditure of public moneys on security arrangements or investigations, including contracts for security arrangements and records related to the procurement of, budgeting for, or expenditures on security systems, shall be open for inspection, except to the extent that they contain specialized details of security arrangements or investigations. A Board may deny the right of inspection of only the portions of a record described in this section that contain specialized details of security arrangements or investigations.
(c) Attorney Client communication or work product.
(d) The Board shall deny the right of inspection of the following records except that any of the following records of reference to employment, licensing, or issuance of permits, shall be available to the person in interest:
1. Personnel files, (employment contracts are still considered a public record);
2. Letters of reference;
3. Any records of sexual harassment complaints and investigations; (See 24-72-204 for exceptions for an administrative agency investigating the complaint)
4. Records for an executive session; or
5. Records in which the disclosure of the record would do substantial injury to the public interest, notwithstanding the fact that said record might otherwise be available to public inspection.
Section 1.05– Copies
In all cases in which a person has the right to inspect a public record, the person may request a copy, printout, or photograph of the record and the Board shall produce the copy, printout, or photograph and transmit the copy of the record by United States mail, or electronic mail. There shall not be any transmission fees charged for electronic transmission.
Section 1.06 – Research and Retrieval Fee
When producing records requires more than an hour of time, the CCCD shall charge $20.00 an hour for all time associated with locating and producing records for a requestor.
Section 1.07 – Production Costs
The cost of production for each page will be $0.25 for a copy of a standard page. For any documents exceeding a standard page, the cost will be the actual cost of reproduction of the item.
Section 1.08 – Estimate of Costs
For requests when the CCCD anticipates more than 25 pages will be produced and/or more than one hour of time will be consumed, the Administrator shall provide a requestor with advance notice and an estimate of compliance costs. Such costs shall be paid in full before the production of records. Charges will be updated to reflect actual costs and the CCCD will refund any difference to the requestor.
Section 1.09 – Notice of Completed Request
Within the time period prescribed in Section 1.01 and Section 1.02 above, after receiving payment, the Board shall provide copies of the records as soon as practicable.
Enacted: __March 1, 2019__
Effective Date: _March 1, 2019_