Resolution 6310, Record Record Requests Fees and Procedures
RESOLUTION NO. 6310
A RESOLUTION SUPERSEDING RESOLUTIONS 5128 AND 5804, MODIFYING THE
FEE SCHEDULE FOR COPIES AND RESEARCH OF PUBLIC INFORMATION
AND/OR RECORDS, MODIFYING PROCEDURES FOR REQUESTING PUBLIC
RECORDS, IMPLEMENTATION AND COLLECTION OF THE FEE SCHEDULE, AND
AFFIRMING THE REQUIREMENTS OF INFORMATION TO BE RETAINED BY THE
CITY OF KALISPELL.
WHEREAS, under Montana Constitution, Article II, Sec. 2, the right to know is a fundamental
right, and access to public information is essential to participation in the activities
of government; and
WHEREAS, providing consistent standards for handling public information requests and
setting reasonable fees charged to individuals requesting public information
ensure people know what to expect; and
WHEREAS, §2-6-2003, Montana Code Annotated (MCA) states every person has a right to
examine and obtain a copy of any public information of this state with certain
limitations; and
WHEREAS, the purpose of implementing a “public information request” policy is to: facilitate
public access to City information and official records; protect individual privacy,
confidentiality, business secrets, and copyrighted material; prevent excessive
interference with other essential functions of the City; and develop a consistent
and fair method of responding to requests for public information and records; and
WHEREAS, §2-6-1006(1)(a), MCA, states, “a person may request public information from a public agency. A public agency shall make the means of requesting public information accessible to all persons;” and
WHEREAS, §2-6-2006(2), MCA, states, “[u]pon receiving a request for public information,
a public agency that is not an executive branch agency shall respond in a timely
manner to the requesting person by making the public information available for
inspection and copying or providing the requesting person with an estimate of the
time it will take to fulfill the request if the information cannot be readily
identified and gathered as well as any fees that may be charged;” and
WHEREAS, HB 100 (69th Leg. 2025), codified in §2-6-1006(5), MCA, allows for a public
agency to charge fees for making public information available for inspection and
copying, for a single, specific, clearly identifiable, and readily available public
record, and for information that is not a request for a single, specific, clearly
identifiable, and readily available public record; and
WHEREAS, HB 100 (69th Leg. 2025), codified in §2-6-1006(5), MCA, further allows for a
local government to charge a filing fee, an hourly fee after the first hour of
service, the actual cost to fulfill the request, the cost of providing the public
information to the requester, a convenience fee as provided in §2-17-1102, MCA;
and other reasonable costs directly incurred by the local government; and
WHEREAS, §2-6-1009(1), MCA, requires that a public agency that denies an information
request to release information or records shall provide a written explanation for
the denial; and
WHEREAS, the City Council previously approved Resolution 5128 on July 17, 2006,
establishing fees for copies of public records from city offices; and
WHEREAS, the City Council previously approved Resolution 5804 on February 6, 2017,
setting a fee schedule for copies and research of public records from city offices;
and
WHEREAS, The City will regularly review its fee schedule and make adjustments when
necessary to ensure the fees are nondiscriminatory, equitable and reasonable.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the Cit y of Kalispell,
Montana, that the following policy and procedures shall be adopted and shall be followed in
responding to requests for public information and/or records and that the fee schedule listed
herein is hereby adopted and shall be applied:
SECTION 1: DEFINITIONS
The following definitions apply to Sections 3, 4, and 5 of this Resolution:
1. Routine Public Records:
A. Material that is prepared for the public and made available to them on a regular basis. This
information is often prepared for promotional or advisory reasons and prepared for general
distribution. No request form is required for these materials.
B. Examples: Ordinance, Resolutions, Minutes, City Council Agendas, Meeting Packets,
Board and Commission Agendas, Brochures, Pamphlets, and Applications.
C. Many of the routine public information items can be found on the City website:
www.kalispell.com.
2. Non-Routine Public Records:
A. Material prepared in the regular course of City business (i.e. regular departmental business
records) that document regular business transactions by each department but is not prepared
for mass distribution. The request form must be completed.
B. If a department has received a ruling from the City Attorney's Office regarding a type of
record or information created and maintained by the department, the department shall
continue to use that directive until notified otherwise.
3. All other definitions per § 2-6-1002, MCA are hereby incorporated and adopted by this resolution.
SECTION 2: RETENTION SCHEDULES
The City of Kalispell maintains information and records in accordance with the adopted records
retention schedules adopted, approved, and updated by the Local Government Records Committee
defined by §2-6-1201, et seq, MCA.
SECTION 3: PROCEDURES
1. All requests for public information must be subject to this Resolution.
2. The City Clerk has developed an online information request form used in processing requests
for non-routine public records and will review and revise the form as needed.
3. For all non-routine public information, the person or entity requesting such record must
complete the form and submit it online for distribution to the appropriate department, or if
submitting the form in person, to the City Clerk’s office for distribution to the appropriate
department. This form serves six functions:
A. To give the City a comprehensive understanding of the specific information being
requested;
B. To allow the City Attorney, if necessary, to review the request pursuant to this Resolution
and law;
C. To facilitate making documents repeatedly requested available on the internet or to add the
requested documents to a list of routine public records requests for which fees are not
charged;
D. To facilitate communication with the requester;
E. To provide a receipt for monies collected; and
F. To allow for regular data collection and reporting.
4. The City Clerk’s office must be the custodian of all completed requests.
When fulfilling a request for public records the following procedures apply:
A. Upon a request for public information, the online portal will forward the request to the
proper City department. In the event the portal cannot identify the proper department, the
City Clerk will forward the request to the proper department.
I. If upon review by the proper City department, it is determined that the request
cannot be fulfilled as originally received, additional information may be required
from the requestor.
II. If a requestor fails to respond to a request for additional information, the original
request may be closed due to non-responsiveness.
B. The Department will estimate the time it will take to fulfill the request and all applicable
charges (see section 4). The Department will forward an invoice to the requester and await
payment.
C. The Department will process the request, tracking time spent on the request and forward to
the Department Director or designee(s) to determine whether the compiled information can
be released to the requester (after full payment is received) or must first be forwarded to the
City Attorney’s Office for review.
D. The City Attorney’s Office, tracking time spent, will review the response to determine
whether the information contained in the compiled response can be released. The City
Attorney must consider whether the responsive materials contain information related to a
matter of individual privacy, confidential criminal justice information, confidential business
or trade secrets, copyrighted material, proprietary financial information, important security
information, or other information that would prohibit disclosure of such information to the
requestor. The City Attorney’s Office will estimate time to perform any needed redactions,
sending the requester an invoice. Once paid the Attorney’s office will complete redactions
and a redaction log and notify the Department of the time spent on the request.
E. The Department will determine whether the full time spent on the request requires
additional payment from the requester, or a refund is appropriate and invoice accordingly.
F. Once full payment is made, the Department will release the record.
G. If the requester fails to pay within 30 calendar days, the request may be closed due to non-
payment.
H. All requests for non-routine records will be submitted and tracked through the records
request software, or in its absence by the City Clerk’s Office.
5. Once a request for information has been received, a response will be made within a
reasonable amount of time. The following exceptions may apply:
A. a record does not exist, or the information cannot be found; or,
B. if a record is in use or unusual circumstances have delayed handling the request, the
requester must be informed of the reason for the delay and of a reasonable time frame for
response; or,
C. the request is denied, and the requester will be informed of the reason for the denial.
6. Request forms must be available on the city website www.kalispell.com for citizens seeking
non-routine public information. Physical forms can be requested directly from the City Clerks’
Office.
7. A Digital File Use Agreement may be required for requests for proprietary electronic public
information requests.
8. No new document or record will be created to respond to a request. Applicable records may be
made available for the requester to compile their own data subject to law, including the legal
restrictions regarding creation of mailing lists from public records. See §2-6-1017, MCA.
9. Any request, which does not refer to an "identifiable" public record or information, shall not be
processed until the requester provides further information. The applicable City department
receiving the request must notify the requester that further information is required before the
request can be processed.
10. The City must notify the requester of fees charged per the fee schedule before proceeding with
processing the request, provide an estimate of the total fee for compiling the requested
information, thereby allowing requester the right to modify or cancel the request.
11. The City makes reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities in compliance with
established policies and as required by law.
12. This Resolution does not supersede any rules of evidence or rules governing the production of
information or documentation in the course of litigation.
SECTION 4: FEES/CHARGES FOR PUBLIC RECORDS
1. No fee will be charged for requests of records deemed by the City to be routine public records
as defined in Section 4 of this resolution.
2. A filing fee of $5 will be charged for all non-routine records requests as allowed in §2-6-1006
(5)(c)(i), MCA.
3. Items that take over 60 minutes to locate and disseminate shall be charged $25 per hour, as
allowed by statute (§2-6-1006(5), MCA.
4. Requests that are subject to the “per hour rate” shall also be charged at the rate of $0.25/page
for costs associated with copying materials.
5. Fees for published and/or documents prepared by commercial print shops will be based on an
established “document charge.”
6. A City department may establish fees for specific records contained in their departments, such
as maps, plats, etc. Such fee schedule shall be approved by the City Manager and posted in
each department. For records not specific to a department, the departmental fee schedules
should not conflict with the specific charges listed in this section.
7. Copies of electronically stored records provided in electronic format will be charged as follows
(§2-6-1006(5), MCA):
A. the City’s actual cost per unit of electronic media used to provide the public record. For
security purposes, the City will provide all blank media;
B. expenses incurred by the City as a result of computer processing charges;
C. out-of-pocket expenses directly associated with the request; and
D. the hourly rate as provided in Section 4.3 of this Resolution,
E. A convenience fee may be charged as provided in §2-17-1102 to recover the costs of
providing digital government services.
8. Records provided to other governmental agencies may be provided on a “reciprocal” basis at
the discretion of the department director responsible for the record.
9. Payment of charges must be received before delivery of the records to the requester.
10. To the extent possible, departments are encouraged to provide on the City’s external website or
on the City’s document center records citizens request most frequently.
11. Records requests and the information provided may be available through the website at the
Director or City Clerk’s discretion.
12. The City will determine on a case-by-case basis whether an employee must be present to
observe and supervise the examination of documents and whether documents can be
removed from their official storage location. Where it is necessary to maintain the integrity
and security of City records, a fee as determined by the hourly rate at the time will be charged
for the City’s supervision of the search and examination and copying of public records.
13.The City Manager may waive fees or reduce fees upon demonstration by the requestor that
payment of the fees required under this Resolution will result in undue hardship.
SECTION 5: EXEMPTIONS
The following public records are exempt from public disclosure unless required by court order or
dissemination is required pursuant specific statutory authorization:
1.Medical records.
2.Personnel Records concerning a current or former employee or applicant for employment that
disclose the individual's home address, home telephone number, social security number,
marital status, payroll deductions, insurance coverage, or other privacy information.
4.Performance evaluations.
5.Certain donor records including financial or physical donations where the donor requests to
remain anonymous.
6. Ownership or pledge of public obligations (§17-5-1106, MCA).
7.Criminal justice records or Municipal Court Records (§44-5-301, et seq. MCA).
8.Vehicle accident reports (§61-7-114, MCA).
9. Insurance information (§50-63-403, MCA).
10.Any other records held or maintained by the City made confidential by law.
PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL AND SIGNED BY THE MAYOR OF
THE CITY OF KALISPELL THIS 17TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 2026.