“Decide my fee waiver request on what it says.”
He answers the agency’s October 30, 2026, denial of his fee waiver request: “Decide my fee waiver request on what it says.”
Public Records Officer,
On October 30, 2026, you denied my fee waiver request. You wrote: “It is unknown if ODOT staff would reach out to OSP’s Government and Media Relations staff and Public Information Officer for such a request..”1
My request told you who I am, what I will do with the records, and what the public gets from them. It told you I will publish them in full, at no charge.2 Your denial does not mention any of it. The Attorney General’s manual lists what a public body weighs: “the requester’s identity, the purpose for which the requester intends to use the information, the character of the information, whether the requested information is already in the public domain, and whether the requester can demonstrate the ability to disseminate the information to the public.”3 My request addresses each of them, in that order.2 The manual says your decision “must be reasonable under the totality of the circumstances,”3 and that in assessing a request for a full waiver, “public bodies should also determine whether a more modest fee reduction is appropriate.”4 My request asked for that reduction.
Decide my fee waiver request on what it says. Follow the statute [ORS 192.324(5)].
Thank you for your contribution to the record.
