It Can't Cost to Look -- Colman Finds New Revenue Source

An alert reader notifies me that the Colman City Council has updated its webpage and now has minutes for its August 13 meeting online. However, unlike the Madison City Commission, the Madison Central School Board, and other, better adherents of the principle of open government, the Colman City Council appears disinclined to archive minutes from previous meetings.

Why on earth would Colman not offer this relatively simple online service? Is its server space really so limited that it can't store a few dozen kilobyte-sized text files? (Technical note: the Aug. 13 minutes form a text file of 6 KB. My 1-gigabyte thumb drive, which cost $12, could hold the minutes for 160,000 such meetings, or monthly regular meetings and maybe six special meetings a year from now until November of the year 11,266 A.D., by which time Sioux Falls will have long since absorbed Colman, Madison, and probably Aberdeen and Pierre.)

A more likely answer lies in the final line of the August 13 minutes, a new rule not credited to any council member, not moved and seconded, simply stated as a done deal:

If requests to make copies of reports or information at Colman City Hall, the City will charge $.25 per copy plus the time involved.

Why put the minutes online for free when you can charge citizens a quarter a page for copies, plus labor? Colman has, after all, just lost a $21,000-per-year revenue source. They're enjoying some savings at the moment by not having hired a replacement police chief (at least I haven't seen anything in the minutes about a new hire, and I'm not about to drive through Colman myself to find out -- anyone over Colman-way have an update?), they've got to make up that shortfall somehow.

Now before anyone dumps tea in Colman Harbor over this unfair taxation, check codified law, and you'll find this moneymaker is probably kosher. SDCL 9-18-2 tells us --

9-18-2. Records of acts and proceedings of municipal officers--Open to public. Every municipal officer shall keep a record of the official acts and proceedings of his office, and such record shall be open to public inspection during business hours under reasonable restrictions.

That statute doesn't authorize any charges for access to the document. Public office, public document, public can stand there and read it. But if you want to take a copy home, that's a different matter. The city already pays for copies for the public when it fulfills SDCL 9-18-1, which requires municipalities to submit their minutes for publication in the newspaper. Government agencies can charge you for extra copies after that. A quarter's still exorbitant
-- the Madison Public Library is in tougher financial shape, and it only charges a dime a copy -- but it's probably legit.

But if you're really cheap (like the Madville Times), you should be able to make your own copy for free! Just whip out your digital camera or your photo-enabled cell phone and take pictures! Don't think it will work? Click on this photo Mrs. Madville Times took with our cheap little camera:

Perfectly legible! There's one way to put technology to work for the people!

Now I would love to know just how Colman's city officials calculate the additional labor charge they add to that quarter for each copy. Do they start the clock from the time you walk in the office, the time the city official gets up from the chair to head for the copy machine, or what? And do they assess a surcharge if there's a paper jam? So next time you're at Colman City Hall, ask the friendly folks behind the desk to copy at least one page for you. Then take your own photos of the rest... and be sure to forward those copies to the Madville Times!