A Coos County Circuit Court judge has issued a ruling
against the Port of Coos Bay in a public records fee case against the Sierra
Club. Judge Paula Bechtold ruled Jan. 25 that the port violated both the law
and the Sierra Club’s constitutional rights by failing to grant the group a
multi-thousand dollar fee waiver.
The issue before the court was whether the port or the
Sierra Club should pay the costs of a far-reaching records request by the
environmental group. In this case, Judge Bechtold ruled that the port must
waive the fees and bear the costs of responding to the request and that the
port violated the Sierra Club’s constitutional rights by requesting
documentation to support the group’s claims that granting it a fee waiver was
in the public interest.
Oregon law allows public agencies to charge reasonable fees
for making public records available upon request, specifically stating that the
port’s fees may include “the cost of time spent by an attorney for the public
body in reviewing the public records, redacting material from the public
records or segregating the public records into exempt and nonexempt records.”
The bulk of the estimated fee quoted to the Sierra Club was
for the expected costs associated with legal review, redaction and segregation
of records.
“I am particularly troubled by the court’s finding that the
port’s handling of this matter somehow violated the Constitution,” port CEO
David Koch said in a statement after the judge’s ruling. “That was certainly not
the port’s intention, and we are committed to reviewing the port’s public records
policies and procedures with outside legal counsel and forwarding any
recommended changes to the Port Commission.”
