This article is from the Huntsville Item online.

Open and transparent government has its limits, according to every member of the Huntsville City Council.

With little discussion and without a second reading, the City Council decided to charge the maximum fees allowable by Texas law for records requests that seek “too many documents.”

Further, they seem to believe providing public records to the people who pay to create, maintain and distribute public information on our behalf is some sort of a luxury service.

 
Should transparency in a city government be a profit-making proposition? Or should fees and limits be wielded to discourage people from seeking public records?

Elected officials making decisions in Huntsville seem to think so.

The new ordinance approved Tuesday will force requesters to pay the full costs (salaries and copy costs) if they utilize over 15 hours of employee time in a one-month period or 36 hours in a year.

 
It’s a dangerous precedent that constitutes double taxation, particularly since officials could use the fees to discourage residents from following through with records requests.

The city council needs to realize these documents are owned by the taxpayers. Federal, state and local tax dollars paid for the files to be created, and the taxpayers should have full access to any documents they seek.

It’s conceivable that some broad requests could be onerous, especially for a relatively small government staff. But enacting policies that discourage public disclosure of public records is misguided and takes a swipe at the foundation of transparent government.

Nearly every member of the Huntsville City Council ran for office with the promise of transparency. However, this ordinance will do nothing but limit transparency.

The Huntsville City Council should immediately reverse this ordinance to secure the promise that got them elected.