In a continuation of a nearly yearlong battle over public records in Hamilton County, county attorneys have sought to charge $14,000 in combined fees for one citizen and the Times Free Press to view public records, despite the state legislature doubling down on allowing such inspection of documents at no charge.
The county faced scrutiny from the public and state lawmakers for destroying records that had been requested by the newspaper and charging for and temporarily denying records responsive to two records requests by the newspaper in 2019. Hamilton County has since implemented even higher charges for inspection and has withheld records from the paper and citizen Dan Rawls.
On Feb. 14, Rawls requested a year’s worth of email, chat, phone and web browser histories of seven county employees, including Mayor Jim Coppinger, county attorney Rheubin Taylor, Property Assessor Marty Haynes and several of Haynes’ staff members, during Haynes’ contentious battle for re-election.
In what Rawls calls a “stonewalling” attempt by the county, Public Records Coordinator Dana Beltramo told Rawls to amend the request, which he declined to do, saying it was a large but finite set of records that he was pursuing.
A month later, Beltramo sought to collect over $12,000 from Rawls before the office would begin compiling the records he requested, citing more than 150 hours of labor at rates varying from $29 to $82 per hour.