RULES AND POLICY PERTAINING TO THE INSPECTION AND COPYING OF RECORDS PURSUANT TO THE COLORADO OPEN RECORDS ACT
1. It is the policy of the Four Mile Fire Protection District (hereinafter “District”) that all public records shall be open for inspection by any person as set forth herein, except as provided by law, and in accordance with the Colorado Open Records Act, § 24-72-201, et seq., C.R.S. These rules and policy are made pursuant to said Act.
2. Only those records allowed by said Act to be inspected and/or copied may be inspected and/or copied and only as provided by said Act.
3. The Board of Directors of the District shall appoint an Official Custodian of the Records ("Custodian"). The Custodian shall have authority to designate such agents as he or she determines to be appropriate to perform any and all acts necessary to enforce and execute the provisions of this policy.
4. A request by any person, entity, federal or state agency, subpoena, administrative or court order, or other legal process, to inspect and/or copy any District record (collectively referred to as a “Records Request”) shall be considered received by the Custodian when submitted in the written format attached hereto as Exhibit A and accompanied by a deposit in an amount to be determined by the Custodian.
5. If any question arises as to the propriety of fully complying with a Records Request, the Custodian shall, at his or her discretion, forward it to the District’s legal counsel for resolution. If legal counsel determines that the District is permitted to comply with the Records Request, the Custodian shall proceed with processing the records request. If legal counsel determines that the District is not permitted to process a Records Request, a written explanation shall be provided to the requesting party.
6. Inspection of the District’s records shall be made in the presence of the Custodian or the designated agent of the Custodian at such time as is mutually convenient for the person requesting such records and the Custodian or the designated agent of the Custodian.
7. Inspection of the records shall be made only in the place where the records are kept, which is currently the Poorman Fire Station for most of the District’s records.
5. No records shall be removed from the place where they are normally kept by anyone except authorized District personnel.
6. Copies of the District’s records shall be made only by the Custodian or by persons authorized to do so by the Custodian.
7. Anyone granted the right to inspect the District's records will also be furnished copies of the same as requested at a cost not to exceed $0.25 per page in standard page size (8 1/2" by 11") and format. The charge for providing a copy, printout, or photograph of a public record in a format other than a standard page will be assessed at the actual cost of production. Additionally, in cases where the location or existence of specific documents must be researched and the documents must be retrieved, sorted, or reviewed for applicability to the request, and where such process requires one or more hours of time, the District may charge a "research and retrieval fee" not to exceed $30.00 per hour. No charge shall be made for the first hour of time expended in connection with the research and retrieval of public records. A deposit to cover the "research and retrieval fee," determined by the Custodian to be a reasonable estimate of the costs incurred in researching, retrieving, sorting, or reviewing for applicability to the request, and any additional costs for copying, shall be collected by the Custodian prior to any inspection or copying of the District's records. In the event the amount of the deposit is not sufficient to cover said amount, then the inspection/copying requested will not be permitted until the amount over and above the amount of the deposit has been received by the Custodian.