Richland County Corporate Counsel Responds to Records Request Fees

This week, The Badger Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, investigative journalism group in Wisconsin, reported that it was clearly illegal for the Richland County Sheriff’s Department and Richland Center Police Department to charge a minimum $25 fee for all records requests.

It stated that, “The law enforcement agencies’ minimum fees, experts say, contradict Wisconsin state law that states any charges for records requests must be tied to a calculation of the actual cost of producing the records.”

Michael Windle serves as Corporate Counsel for both the City of Richland Center and Richland County. When talking with Windle, he took full responsibility for the issue.

In a memo he wrote to County Administrator, Tricia Clements, that “You have tasked me with a review of the Sheriff’s policy of charging a minimum $25 fee for the provision of records subject to a public records request. As this was included in the Summary Fee Schedule adopted by the Board at its November 19, 2024 meeting, I expanded that review to include any such fees from any department set forth…. My opinion after this review is that the Sheriff’s policy is inconsistent with state statutes, and I believe additional information is needed regarding the fees laid out in other departments as they may be as well.”

“However, I will note that I was consulted regarding the Sheriff’s policy prior to its implementation and while I believe a miscommunication occurred, I was not sufficiently diligent in ensuring I had communicated clearly and prevented the passage of an unlawful policy. Ultimately, the fault is mine, and I both apologize for failing to address this sooner and thank the organizations that brought the matter to light.”

State Statute state that fees charged to satisfy public records requests are limited to “the actual, necessary, and direct cost of reproduction of the record being requested, and does not include the costs of locating unless that cost is $50 or more.”

The county and city have no choice but to revise the fee schedule for police and sheriff reports.