AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING AND AMENDING CHAPTER 1; ARTICLE XI OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF GOODLAND REGARDING ESTABLISHING AN OPEN RECORDS POLICY.
NOW THEREFORE, be it Ordained by the Governing Body of the City of Goodland, Kansas:
Section 1-1101. Policy. (a) It is hereby declared to be the policy of the city that all public records which are made, maintained or kept by or are in the possession of the city, its officers and employees, shall be open for public inspection as provided by, and subject to the restrictions imposed by, the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA).
(b) Any person, upon request, shall have access to such open public records for the purpose of inspecting, abstracting or copying such records while they are in the possession, custody and control of the appointed or designated records custodian thereof, or their designated representative.
Section 1-1102. Records Custodians. The records custodian(s) appointed and designated pursuant to this ordinance shall preserve and protect all public records from damage, disorganization and theft and shall assist, in a timely and efficient manner, any person making request for access to any open public record.
Section 1-1103. Public Request for Access. All city offices keeping and maintaining open public records shall establish office hours during which any person may make a request for access to an open public record. Such hours shall be no fewer than the hours each business day the office is regularly open to the public. For any city office not open Monday through Friday, hours shall be established by the records custodian for each such day at which time any person may request access to an open public record.
Section 1-1104. Facilities for Public Inspection. All city offices keeping and maintaining open public records shall provide suitable facilities to be used by any person desiring to inspect and/ or copy an open public record. The office of the city clerk, being the principal recordkeeper of the city, shall be used as the principal office for providing access to and providing copies of open records to the maximum extent practicable. Requesters of records shall be referred to the office of the city clerk except when the requested records are not in that office and are available in another city office.
Section 1-1105. Procedures for Inspection. Any person requesting access to an open public record for purposes of inspecting or copying such record, or obtaining a copy thereof, shall abide by the procedures adopted by the governing body for record inspection and copying, including those procedures established by records custodians as authorized by the governing body. Such procedures shall be posted in each city office keeping and maintaining open public records.
Section 1-1106. Appointment of Official Custodians. The following city officers are hereby appointed as official custodians for purposes of the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA), K.S.A. 45-215 et seq., and are hereby charged with responsibility for compliance with that Act with respect to the hereinafter listed public records:
- City clerk: All public records kept and maintained in the city clerk’s office and all other public records not provided for elsewhere in this section.
- Chief of police: All public records not on file in the office of the city clerk and kept and maintained in the city police department.
- Clerk of the municipal court: All public records not on file in the office of the city clerk and kept and maintained in the municipal court.
Section 1-1107. Designation of Additional Records Custodians.
- Each of the official custodians appointed in section 1-1106 is hereby authorized to designate any subordinate officers or employees to serve as records custodian. Such records custodians shall have such duties and powers as are set out in KORA.
- Whenever an official custodian shall appoint another person as a records custodian, they shall notify the city clerk of such designation and the city clerk shall maintain a register of all such designations.
Section 1-1108. Duties of Custodians. All city officers and employees appointed or designated as records custodians under this ordinance shall: protect public records from damage and disorganization; prevent excessive disruption of the essential functions of the city; provide assistance and information upon request; ensure efficient and timely action and response to all applications for inspection of public records; and shall carry out the procedures adopted by this city for inspecting and copying open public records.
Section 1-1109. Requests to Be Directed to Custodians. (a) All members of the public, in seeking access to, or copies of, a public record in accordance with the provisions of KORA, shall address their requests to the custodian charged with responsibility for the maintenance of the record sought to be inspected or copied.
(b) Whenever any city officer or employee appointed or designated as a custodian under this ordinance is presented with a request for access to, or copy of, a public record which record the custodian does not have in their possession and for which they have not been given responsibility to keep and maintain, the custodian shall so advise the person requesting the record. Further, the person making the request shall be informed as to which custodian the request should be addressed to, if such is known by the custodian receiving the request.
Section 1-1110. Fee Administration. The city clerk is hereby authorized to provide the clerk’s office, and the office of each records custodian, with sufficient cash to enable the making of change for record fee purposes. Each custodian shall transmit all record fee moneys collected to the city treasurer not less than monthly. Each custodian shall maintain duplicates of all records and copy request forms, completed as to the amount of fee charged and collected, which amounts shall be periodically audited by the clerk-finance officer and treasurer of the city.
Section 1-1111. Inspection Fee. (a) Where a request has been made for inspection of any open public record which is readily available to the records custodian, there shall be no inspection fee charged to the requester.
- In all cases not covered by subsection (a) of this section, a record inspection fee shall be charged at the hourly rate of employee engaged in the record search.
Section 1-1112. Copying Fee. (a) A fee of $.05 per page shall be charged for photocopying public records, such fee to cover the cost of labor, materials and equipment.
(b) For copying any public records that cannot be reproduced by the city’s photocopying equipment, the requester shall be charged the actual cost to the city, including staff time, in reproducing such records.
Section 1-1113. Prepayment of Fees. (a) A records custodian may demand prepayment of the fees established by this ordinance whenever they believe this to be in the best interest of the city. The prepayment amount shall be an estimate of the inspection and/or copying charges accrued in fulfilling the record request. Any overage or underage in the prepayment shall be settled prior to inspection of the requested record or delivery of the requested copies.
- Prepayment of inspection and/or copying fees shall be required whenever, in the best estimate of the records custodian, such fees are estimated to exceed $10.00.
- Where prepayment has been demanded by the records custodian, no record shall be made available to the requester until such prepayment has been made.
Section 1-1114. Payment. All fees charged under this ordinance shall be paid to the custodian of the records inspected and/or copied unless the requester has established an account, for purposes of billing and payment, with the city.
Section 1-1115. Interactive Communication Required. (a)When the staff time needed to respond to a records request will exceed five hours or the estimated actual cost for staff time needed to fill the request exceeds $200, a records custodian shall make reasonable efforts to contact the requester and engage in interactive communication about mitigating costs to fill the request. The requester is not obligated to mitigate costs.
(b) If the records custodian has made reasonable efforts to contact the requester pursuant to this section and the requester has failed to respond by the end of the third business day, the records request will be deemed to be withdrawn until a subsequent contact has been made by the requester to the city.
(3) As used in this subsection, “reasonable efforts to contact the requester” means contacting the requester through the means of communication that the requester provided to be used by the city to respond to the request.
Effective Date. This Ordinance shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the Goodland Star News.
Adopted by the Governing Body of the City of Goodland, Kansas, this 20th day of October, 2025.
____________________________________ Jason Showalter, Mayor
ATTEST:
_______________________________
Mary P. Volk, City Clerk