CMO Records Management & FOIA 3

Question 1

A municipality destroys records before their retention period expires without authorization. What is the potential consequence?

Accepted Answer

Criminal or civil liability and inability to defend against litigation

Answer

Unauthorized destruction of public records can expose the municipality to criminal penalties, civil liability, and adverse inferences in litigation.

Question 2

Which FOIA principle governs how fees may be charged to a requestor who is a member of the news media?

Accepted Answer

News media requestors may only be charged for duplication costs, not search or review costs

Answer

Federal FOIA and most state equivalents limit fees for news media requestors to duplication costs only, waiving search and review fees.

Question 3

What is 'redaction' in the context of a public records response?

Accepted Answer

Removing or obscuring exempt information before releasing a document

Answer

Redaction involves blocking out or removing portions of a document that are legally exempt before the remainder is released to the requestor.

Question 4

Under most state open records laws, how should a municipality handle a request for a record that has already been destroyed pursuant to an approved retention schedule?

Accepted Answer

Notify the requestor that the record no longer exists and document the response

Answer

If a record was lawfully destroyed per the approved schedule, the municipality should inform the requestor the record no longer exists and document this response.

Question 5

A certified municipal officer discovers that a retiring department head has stored municipal records only on a personal hard drive at home. What is the correct immediate action?

Accepted Answer

Retrieve all municipal records before the employee leaves and transfer them to official custody

Answer

Public records are the property of the municipality regardless of where they are stored, and they must be returned to official custody when an employee departs.

(CMO) Certified Municipal Officer Practice Test

(CMO) Certified Municipal Officer Practice Test

CMO Records Management & FOIA 3