Public-record copies to drop to 25 cents

SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR

MERCER, Pa. — The price of making most copies in Mercer County offices will drop to 25 cents in January.

Atty. William Madden, solicitor to the county commissioners, informed them at their work session Wednesday that they must drop the copying fee, 50 cents per page for public records, that has been in effect since 2005 in order to comply with the new state public-records law. That law allows copying fees up to only 25 cents per page.

Copies larger than 8 1‚Ñ2 by 11 and certain other types of copies will be exempt from the limit. A fee schedule will be announced.

Commissioners are scrambling to comply with the state’s Act 3 Right to Know law, which goes into effect next year.

Another provision of the law requires the county to appoint an open-records officer, and commissioners already have announced they will name their chief clerk, Tim Hofius, to the position.

They said Wednesday that the public should request records from county offices as they always have. If the department head refuses the request, however, they should then make the request of Hofius which would bring into play the legal protections of the new law including an appeals process.

The new law strengthens public access to government records. The former law had been considered one of the nation’s weakest. Government officials have been attending training sessions on implementing it.