Greene County is one of several governmental agencies who were asked for documents by Michael J. Merritt of Newton under Iowa’s Freedom of Information Act.
Merritt’s requests have been so expansive, and followed so many times by complaints to the Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB), that the IPIB is now considering proposing legislation that would enable state agencies, as well as Iowa’s cities, counties and school districts, to ignore for up to one year any public records requests from individuals deemed by the board to be the work of a “vexatious requester.”
Greene County recorder Deb McDonald alerted the county supervisors June 19 that she was working with attorney Thomas Laehn to determine how to handle a large request for records by an individual not known to anyone in the courthouse.
The supervisors had previously approved an Open Records policy. The policy provides that the county will spend up to one hour searching for requested records, but additional time must be paid at an hourly rate by the requestor. The policy also requires that a deposit be made before a lengthy search is started.
She and Laehn determined the cost to provide the records would be nearly $1,500. McDonald also learned Merritt had made similar requests of other counties.
Laehn verified for GreeneCountyNewsOnline on Monday that Merrit is the person who requested records during the summer. He said Merritt had been informed of the cost and asked for a deposit. He did not pay the deposit and no further work was done on it.
[Editor’s note – Read the following post from Iowa Capital Dispatch about Michael J. Merritt. The good news is that Merritt did not visit the Greene County courthouse wearing pajamas and stalking employees.]
