(a) The Assistant City Manager shall prepare and have custody of all municipal records required by law to be kept by the city and not by a specific officer. Where the law makes it the duty of a specific officer to keep or maintain records, the Assistant City Manager shall make available to such officer all necessary clerical assistance for the preparation of such records and shall make available a place for the custody of such records.
(b) Where the law requires or provides for certification of any records or documents by any officer of the city, the Assistant City Manager shall cause such records or documents to be properly prepared and presented to such officer for his or her signature.
(c) The Assistant City Manager, unless otherwise expressly provided by statute, shall furnish proper and reasonable opportunities for inspection and examination of the records in his or her office and reasonable facilities for making memoranda or abstracts therefrom, during the usual business hours, to all persons having occasion to make examination of them. The Assistant City Manager may make reasonable rules and regulations necessary for the protection of the records and to prevent interference with the regular discharge of his or her duties. If the records requested exist in magnetic, electronic or computer form, the Assistant City Manager shall make copies available on magnetic or electronic media, if so requested.
(d) All requests for information must state, with reasonable specificity, the information sought. The Assistant City Manager, upon demand for records made under this statute, shall as soon as is practicable but within a maximum of five days, not including Saturdays, Sundays or legal holidays:
(1) Furnish copies of the requested information;
(2) Advise the person making the request of the time and place at which he or she may inspect and copy the materials; or
(3) Deny the request stating in writing the reasons for such denial. A denial shall indicate that the responsibility of the Assistant City Manager or the Council, or other public body, to produce the requested records or documents is at an end, and shall afford the person requesting them the opportunity to institute proceedings for injunctive or declaratory relief in the circuit court in the county where the public record is kept.
(e) The Council or other public body may establish fees reasonably calculated to reimburse it for its actual cost in making reproductions of records. The Council or other public body may not charge a search or retrieval fee or otherwise seek reimbursement based on a person-hour basis as part of costs associated with making reproduction of records.
(f) The Secretary of State shall maintain an electronic data base of notices of requests as required by W. Va. Code § 29B-1-3a. The database shall be made available to the public via the internet and shall list each freedom of information request received and the outcome of the request. The Secretary of State shall provide on the website a form for use by the Council or other public body to report the results of the freedom of information request, providing the nature of the request and the public body’s response thereto, whether the request was granted, and, if not, the exemption asserted under W. Va. Code § 29B-1-4 to deny the request.
(Ord. passed 12-21-1999)
Statutory reference:
Inspection and copying of public record; requests of Freedom of Information Act requests registry, see W. Va. Code § 29B-1-3