(A) Copying/duplication fee schedule. There is hereby established the following copying/duplication fee schedule for the Howard County Sheriffs Office, except as excluded from these provisions by divisions (D) and (E) below:
(1) Fees for paper copy. The copy fee for producing paper documents shall be the actual cost to the Sheriff’s office of copying records or $0.10, whichever is greater, for each page of any public record which is not a color copy and $0.25 for each page of any public record which is a color copy. The "actual cost" means the cost of paper and the per-page cost for use of copying equipment and does not include labor or overheads costs. Any fee established under this division must be uniform to all purchasers.
(a) Page definition. A page shall be one side of a sheet of paper or one side of a record or document. Thus, a sheet with writing on two sides that is copied (both sides) would be treated as two pages.
(2) Fees for copies of accident reports shall be $10 per report, pursuant to the authority of I.C. 9-26-9-3.
(a) Fees for electronic or digital copy.
1. There will be no fee to provide an electronic copy of a public record by electronic mail; provided, however, there is no requirement that a public agency change the format of a public record.
2. Media charges. Electronic or digital copies shall be provided via email; the person requesting the electronic or digital copy shall provide an accurate email address for sending the requested documents. If the person requesting electronic or digital copies requests that the copies be provided on a compact disc (CD), DVD, thumb drive, or alternative media, the person making the request shall pay to the Howard County Sheriff’s Office $15 per CD/DVD required to fulfill the request or the actual cost of any alternative media device at a minimum of $15.
(3) Packaging and shipping fees. Packaging and shipping fees shall be charged at cost.
(B) Procedure for processing of copy requests.
(1) All requests for copying of public records must identify with reasonable particularity the record being requested and, at the discretion of the Howard County Sheriff’s Office, be in writing or in a standard form provided by Howard County on the county website or otherwise. No request for inspection or copying of public records may be denied because the person making the request refuses to state the purpose of the request, unless such condition is required by operation of law. For a public record that is in an electronic format, a public agency shall provide an electronic copy or a paper copy of the public record, at the option of the person making the request for the public record.
(2) The Howard County Sheriff's Office shall be expected to provide copies of public records, as herein requested, within a reasonable time period after the request is properly made. A reasonable time period may vary depending upon the scope of the request, the time involved in honoring it, the ability of the Department to respond to the request given its other duties and responsibilities, and the availability of copying or duplicating equipment (if any).
(C) Absence of machine capable of mechanically duplicating the public record. The Howard County Sheriff's office shall not be required to copy or duplicate a public record requested to be copied or reproduced which is within its possession unless it has reasonable access to a machine capable of mechanically reproducing the public record. In the absence of reasonable access to such a machine, the requesting person is only entitled to inspect and manually transcribe the record.
(D) Certification fees. The fee for certifying any document as a true, accurate, and complete copy of the original public record shall be $5 for each document.
(E) Statutory or other prescribed fees. Nothing contained within this section shall alter, expand, or interfere with the collection of any copying, search, or other fee by the Howard County Sheriff’s office that is specified by other law or is ordered by a court to be paid.
(F) Duplication of computer tapes, computer discs, microfilm, etc.
(1) The Howard County Sheriff’s Office shall be entitled to establish its own procedures and standards for providing a duplicate of any computer tape, computer disc, DVD, microfilm, law enforcement recording or similar or analogous record system containing information owned by the public agency or entrusted to it. The Howard County Sheriff’s Office, as part of its standard policy relative to such materials, shall charge a fee therefore, which fee shall not exceed the Department's direct cost of supplying the information in that form. The fee for a law enforcement recording may not exceed $150. In determining the Department's direct cost of supplying such information, the Department shall compute 105% of the sum of the cost of:
(a) The initial development of a program, if any;
(b) The labor required to retrieve electronically stored data; and
(c) Any medium used for electronic output; for providing a duplicate, or for reprogramming the computer system under I.C. 5-14-6 to separate disclosable information from non-disclosable information.
(2) As to such computer tapes, computer discs, microfilm, or similar or other analogous record systems containing information owned by the Department, the Department shall be entitled to establish its own uniform, nondiscriminatory procedure for the requesting of a duplicate or copy, and the timeliness of any response thereto.
(G) Payment and accounting for fees.
(1) The Howard County Sheriff’s Office shall require the payment of any fees under this section to be made in advance to insure payment and reimbursement to the Department for the expense involved in providing the requested service.
(2) The Howard County Sheriff’s Office shall not impose the fees established under this section when the services performed are for other public agencies forming a part of Howard County Government.
(BCC Ord. 1995-6, passed 2-6-95; Am. Ord. BCC-2005-21, passed 5-16-05; Am. Ord. 2021-HCCO-55, passed 12-21-21)