In accord with a recent change in Alabama’s open records law, the Franklin County Commission approved a revised procedure for public records requests by limiting them only to individuals who are Alabama residents.
Commissioners approved the revised policy at their October 19th business meeting.
Last year, the Alabama Legislature changed Alabama’s Open Records Act to apply only to Alabama residents.
Under the revised policy, a request made to the Franklin County Commission for public records must be accompanied by proof of Alabama residency in order to be processed.
The only exception to the policy excluding non-Alabama residents relates to requests for inspecting records of competitive bidding for good and services. Such requests may be made by any person or entity as long as the request otherwise complies with the county policy.
Record requests must identify the records sought with ‘reasonable specificity,’ so the county’s public officer may understand what records are actually being requested.
All record requests are subject to a copying and processing fee of $1 per page, with a minimum of $3 per request, as well as a ‘research fee’ set as an hourly rate.
Such fees must be reasonable, as some public agencies have used outrageous fees as a deterrent to having record requests filed.
In other agenda items at its October 19th meeting, the commission:
—changed the effective date of health insurance coverage for new employees to the effective date of the new employee’s hiring.
—approved the hiring of Ron Coates as Assistant Emergency Management Agency Director on a temporary part-time only basis.
—approved advertising for a vacant Roadway Maintenance Technician II in the Highway Department.
—approved the hiring of Elizabeth as a temporary part-time property tax collector in the Revenue Commissioner’s office.
—approved the hiring of Dakota Starling as Corrections Officer/Dispatcher in the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, and then approved terminating him from the position.
—approved the resignation of Clint Holcomb as Investigator with the FCSO, as Holcomb accepted a job with a different law enforcement agency. Commissioners also approved advertising for the vacant Deputy position.
—approved hiring Joseph Franks as the new Franklin County Litter Control Officer.
—approved hiring Renae Halbrooks as part-time, temporary Corrections Officer/Dispatcher on an as-needed basis, accepted the resignation of Kara LeMoody as dispatcher, the resignation of James Fleck as Corrections Officer/Dispatcher and authorized advertisement for both vacancies.
—allowed a request from Pilgrim’s Russellville for a tax abatement on a planned expansion building to die after no commissioner made a motion to approve it.