The head of the Otago Regional Council is defending the organisation's stance on charging for official information requests, despite being out of step with most southern councils and official guidance.
ORC chairman Stephen Woodhead said he was "comfortable'' with the ORC's policy, which offered just 30 minutes' free work by staff when responding to official information requests.
That was despite guidance from the Ministry of Justice, which recommended one hour of free work, and the Dunedin City Council's approach, which was to offer three hours free.
Most other councils in Otago contacted confirmed they followed the ministry's guidelines, by offering one hour free before considering charges.
All councils, including the ORC, also said they would then attempt to refine requests, to make them more specific, before resorting to the imposition of charges.
The ODT has been asking Otago's public sector organisations for details of their policies following a recent report the Reserve Bank had advised a journalist being charged for official information was now "standard policy''.
That followed retired chief ombudsman Dame Beverley Wakem's recent OIA review, which concluded an informal practice of not charging media or politicians for requests was incorrect, as it meant requesters were not treated equally.
The Reserve Bank's stance prompted a warning from University of Otago public law specialist Prof Andrew Geddis, who said a change in "culture'' around the Official Information Act (OIA) was under way.
"What the agencies are now doing is reviewing their policy and saying maybe we should be charging the media.
"The risk is that what they'll now start doing is charging for everything,'' he said.
In the South, the Southern District Health Board, which is also subject to the OIA, has occasionally cited the need to charge for information.
So, too, has the DCC, which like other councils is subject to the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.
But council corporate services group manager Sandy Graham said the DCC preferred to refine requests where possible and was yet to collect a charge.
It also went beyond ministry guidelines by offering three hours free, as part of a wider push for transparency within the organisation, Ms Graham said.
Staff from Queenstown Lakes, Central Otago, Clutha and Waitaki district councils all confirmed yesterday their policies offered one hour of free staff time, before considering charges if requests could not be refined.
Environment Southland joined the ORC in offering only 30 minutes free staff time.
The ORC's policy had been in place since 2007-08, and Mr Woodhead, as chairman, said it sought to balance the need to meet legislative requirements while protecting ratepayers' funds.
Requests could at times be dealt with more effectively by "picking up the phone'' or meeting ORC staff, while others took "an awful lot of time'', he said.
ORC staff worked with people to refine their requests where possible, to avoid charges, as "sometimes they can be a bit of a shotgun approach'', he said.
"It can mean a lot of extra work when it's not always necessarily needed,'' he said.
Asked if most detailed requests would take longer than 30 minutes, he said he "can't answer that'', and was not aware of the ministry's guidelines.
He would "follow up'' on that with ORC staff, but insisted the policy was not an impediment to the council's "very open and transparent system''.
