PREPARED BY: CITY MANAGER

APPROVED AS TO FORM AND

CORRECTNESS:

(City Attorney)
 

PASSED FIRST READING:______

PASSED 2ND READING:_______

MINUTE BOOK PAGE
 

THE BOARD OF MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COOKEVILLE, TENNESSEE HEREBY ORDAINS:
 

Section :
 

That Title 1 of the Cookeville Municipal Code be amended by adding the following chapter:
 CHAPTER 6

 ACCESS AND INSPECTION OF PUBLIC RECORDS

 SECTION

1-601. Procedures regarding access and inspection of public records.

1-602. Reproduction of records in electronic form,

1-603. Fees for inspection and copying of public records,
 

1-601. Procedures regarding access and inspection of public records Consistent with the open records laws of the State of Tennessee (T.C.A. 10-7-501 through 10-7-503), and provisions of title 14,

Section 14.04 of the Cookeville City Charter, employees of the City of Cookeville shall provide full access

and assistance in a timely and effective manner to persons who request access to open records. City of

Cookeville employees shall at all times protect the integrity and organization of public records with respect to the manner in which such records are inspected and copied. All inspections or copying of records shall be performed by, or under the supervision of a city employee. City personnel shall prevent excessive disruptions of essential functions of the city and shall simultaneously seek to provide access to public records within a reasonable time. Requests for inspection or copying of public records shall be made in writing on a form provided by the city, which is to require the name of the person making the request, and on whose behalf the request is being made, the address and telephone number of the person making the request, and a description of the public records being requested. Such form shall be completed by the person requesting the record, and city employees may demand reasonable identification of any person requesting a record. Hours for making requests for inspection or copying of records shall be the regular office hours of the city. Removal of public records from the offices of the city shall not be permitted. Public records shall not be reproduced when, in the judgment of the city, such records would be damaged by the reproduction process. Questions concerning the publicity of a record shall be directed to the city attorney. If copies of personnel records of any city employee are requested, it shall be the policy of the city to notify each employee involved, which documents have been copied, to whom they have been provided and for whom the inspection was made. (See T.C.A. 10-7403).
 
 

ORDINANCE

1-602. Reproduction of records in electronic form The City of Cookeville is not obligated to provide copies of its public records in a computerized format. The City of Cookeville is not obligated to manipulate its public records so as to produce the public records in a form different than the form in which the public records are maintained. The City of Cookeville may elect, at its discretion, to produce copies of its public records in computerized form when the City of Cookeville determines that it is in its best interest to do so. The copying of public records in computerized format will be done only if the City of Cookeville is assured that no portion of the proprietary or copyrighted works of others is being duplicated. Copies made from the City of Cookeville's computers will be made only on diskettes provided by the City of Cookeville or known by the City of Cookeville to be free of viruses or other objectionable software which might interact with the City of Cookeville's computers.
 

1-603. Fees for inspection and copying of public records. Fees for inspection and copying of records of the City of Cookeville shall cover the cost of retrieving, supervising access and inspection, and reproduction of records. Such fees shall be as follows:
 

(a) Twenty-five (25) cents per page for each photostatic copy provided by the City of Cookeville.

(B) One dollar twenty-five cents ($1.25) per computer diskette onto which records are copied plus the actual cost of any diskette provided by the City of Cookeville.

Actual personnel costs related to time spent retrieving and accessing records based upon each involved employee's effective hourly rate of pay, including benefits.

(d) Actual personnel costs related to the time spent supervising inspection or reproduction or records based upon each involved employee's effective hourly rate of pay, including benefits.
 

All fees for purposes identified in this chapter shall be due at the time such costs are incurred. If multiple copies are requested or copies are requested that require more than minimal time for retrieval the
City of Cookeville may require a reasonable deposit for the estimated cost which must be paid before retrieval of the records or copying is commenced. If the City employee involved in the retrieval and copying
of records determines that the costs of retrieval will exceed the amount of the deposit, the City employee involved in the search and retrieval shall request an additional deposit sufficient to cover the estimated cost.

No reproduction fee shall be assessed, other than the photostatic copy fee of $.25 per page, when an employee of the City of Cookeville determines that the cost of charging and handling the fee exceeds the cost of providing a copy without charge.

Section II. That this ordinance shall take effect fourteen (14) days from and after its final passage, the public welfare requiring it.
 
 

(Mayor, Jean Davis)
 

ATTEST:
 
 

(City Clerk, Stephanie Miller)