Madison County auditor lays out draft open‑records policy, warns of workload and cost tradeoffs

Michelle, the county auditor, presented a draft open‑records policy and flowchart she said was intended to clarify public expectations and internal processes. She walked supervisors through statutory provisions (referred to generically as the records chapter) and said the draft explains custodial duty, permissible exemptions and the approach to copying and redacting records. "I think there's a lot of misinformation about what FOIA requests are," Michelle told the board, explaining she prepared the memo for both public benefit and internal consistency.

Michelle described practical challenges: third‑party searches can return large zip files that must be reviewed; she estimated roughly three minutes of review per applicable document and cited an example that would translate into dozens of hours of staff time. She recommended explicit exclusions (attorney and sheriff domains, law‑firm addresses) and a standard formula for estimating requester costs so fees remain reasonable and tied to actual processing time rather than overhead. Board members agreed to review the draft and meet in a work session to resolve technical details and how the policy will interact with the vendor contract.