Westland agrees to roll back fees for access to public documents after a government watchdog group challenged the charges in court.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, based in Midland, reports on its victory in a blog post:
The city no longer will charge people $5 for getting an information request started and it will lower its copying costs from $1 a page to 10 cents per page, according to a settlement. . . .
The $45 an hour copy clerk [also] is a thing of the past.
"There’s no reason why the government should charge 10 times as much as the private sector" for photocopying, says Patrick Wright, director of the center's legal foundation.
"We're glad to see that the city has agreed to change its policies to conform to state law," Wright said. "They were charging fees that were in direct opposition to the law and were designed to discourage people from exercising their rights to obtain public documents."
The city also agreed to pay the Mackinac Center's attorney fees.
The center sued after submitting a state Freedom of Information Act request for information about the city’s municipal golf course.
Earlier coverage:
Mackinac Center To Westland: Document-Request Fee Is Illegal, Undemocratic, Sept. 21, 2013
