St. Charles Parish Legislative Committee Meeting – November 17, 2025
St. Charles Parish Legislative Committee Meeting – November 17, 2025
The Legislative Committee of the St. Charles Parish Council met on November 17, 2025, at 5:00 PM in the Council Chambers to discuss a single agenda item: a proposed ordinance to amend Chapter 2, Section 2-2 of the Parish Code regarding fees for copies of public documents. The meeting included detailed deliberation among committee members, the Parish President, and staff. No public comments were received. The committee did not vote on the ordinance but directed the administration to refine the proposal and bring it back for a future meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public spoke during the public hearing portion of the meeting.
Discussion Items
- Councilwoman Michelle O'Daniels presented an overview of the proposed ordinance, noting that the existing fee schedule had not been updated in years. She explained that the Louisiana Constitution provides free access to view public records, but charges for reproduction are allowed. Her research of other parishes led to a proposal: 50 cents per page for paper copies, 25 cents per page for electronic copies of emails (a 50% reduction from the administration's initial proposal), and free first 10 pages for electronic documents. She also suggested that the fee schedule be reviewed within 9–10 months.
- Parish President Matthew Jewell expressed support for moving forward but argued for a simpler, uniform fee of 50 cents per page for all electronic documents (including emails) and no free pages. He proposed a $5 per 100 pages rate for electronic documents, with a $5,000 cap. He noted that the council secretary can waive fees for readily available documents and that most public records requests come from businesses or lawyers, not ordinary residents.
- Councilman Walter Pilié commended the work done and emphasized the importance of public access. He noted that many bid-related documents are not easily accessible online after a bid is awarded, and he encouraged the administration to make more documents available on the parish website to reduce the need for public records requests. He supported the proposed fee structure as a step in the right direction.
- Councilman Willie Comardelle pointed out that online bidding platforms like Central Bidding charge subscription fees to users, so the parish should not assume all documents are free to access. He supported a reasonable fee for reproduction.
- Parish President Jewell responded that the administration is willing to improve website transparency but cautioned against overwhelming the site with every internal document, as most users visit for basic services (e.g., paying water bills). He reiterated that the parish complies with public records requests and that fees are meant to cover costs, not to profit.
- Councilwoman O'Daniels also noted that the ordinance language needs minor updates (e.g.,
Meeting Transcript
Good evening and welcome to the legislative committee meeting on Monday, November 17, 2025 at 5 p.m. in the council chambers in the parish courthouse. Please silence all electronic devices and remove all hats. This meeting is called to order with a silent prayer and the pledge of allegiance. Pledge relations to the platform of the Republican. All right, thank you. Matters before the committee. 2025-0359, an ordinance to amend the St. Charles Parish Code of Ordinances, Chapter 2, Administration Article 1 in general, Section 2.2, fees and copies of documents ABC and adding D. So Daniels, since you work so hard on this, can you kind of give us a synopsis of what we're we're going to be looking at tonight? Yes, uh, thank you, um, Chairman. Uh good evening, and want to spend special thanks to Councilman Bob Fisher as legislative committee chair for scheduling this meeting. Uh, thank you also to my fellow council members for making the time to attend to discuss this very important topic. I would like to express my sincerest appreciation to the administration and parish president Jewel for bringing to our attention that the price list for reproduction of public documents was in need of an update and refresh. When electronic documents were first made available as an option for public records, the council at the time decided to make those copies free. As we all know and have experienced, though, standalone software programs where you make a one-time investment to have a software for a lifetime have gone by the way of the buffalo. Also, we know that the ability to quickly create documents and the proliferation of electronic communications, as well as the increase in labor costs, have increased the cost of reproduction of documents. A basic tenant of the Louisiana Constitution provides for the public to have access to public records. Charges for viewing public records during normal business hours are always free. The Louisiana legislature in Louisiana revised statute 4435 C allows for a custodian to charge the requester a reasonable fee for the reproduction of public records. This is what we are here tonight to discuss. In preparation for this meeting, I've researched the law, including cases discussing the contours of the public records law. Contrary to various opinions shared with me by members of the public, there is no binding precedent on what is a reasonable charge for reproduction for parish records. While the attorneys have argued about the constitutionality of charging for reproduction of public records, we have no real direction from courts or the legislature of what that looks like. Thus, we have looked to other parishes and agencies for guidance, finding that charges varied. I have included that research in with the agenda materials tonight. The initial proposal was 50 cents per page for paper copies and electronic documents. This update for paper copies given the cost of labor printers and toners appears to be in line and reasonable. I propose we accept the administration's proposal of 50 cents per page for general paper copies. Upon reflection of the cost to the public, which many times includes our residents, we discussed the idea of 50 cents a page across the board for electronic documents, may be cost prohibitive or have a chilling effect on the public's participation in basic government business. While many of our key documents may be found online, there is no requirement that the requester go online and view those documents. In other words, the requester gets to decide. Thus, upon review of other parish price lists, Jefferson Parish price structure for general electronic documents provided one of the most generous pricing schedules for electronic documents. This is detailed in the proposed draft ordinance in the agenda. The cost of reproduction of emails is a much more labor-intensive, and thus the chart for emails is proposed at 25 cents per page, a 50% reduction in administration's proposal. In addition to these updates, the proposed ordinance has updated the price list for the code of ordinances and frequently requested appendices. Mr. Peeway and I have discussed with procurement, and we appreciate Ms. Campos explaining the documents and information requested in the bidding process, as well as blanket requests for purchase orders by out-of-state businesses that gather information for commercial purposes. We also understand this department is in flux with the potential of transitioning to open.gov to obtain internal efficiencies and the contracting process. For now, the standard document charges of 50 cents per page paper or electric electronic copy is suggested. Louisiana statute dealing with bidding and copies of bid related documents is still somewhat antiquated. So while we have redlined, quote, as determined by the bid advertisement, that particular language needs to be reinstituted into the final ordinance. Information gathered in these proposals have come from after hours of discussion with our records custodian, IT, legal, and various departments who are charged with participating in the reproduction of public documents. Public comment has already been received, and we continue to accept same, including citation of cases that are meaningful as far as providing the Constitution's intent and guardrails for handling public records requests. But none of those are on point with respect to reasonable copy and charges. Here, every effort has been made to balance the public right to documents with the cost of reproduction, which are most reason most assuredly a significant overhead item with the involvement of every department of the administration, with some more active than others, like planning and zoning and animal control, as well as the legal department. Recurring costs required for software to reproduce these documents as well as the labor involved in the reproduction will most assuredly exceed the revenues received from the public records request. But as this proposal is new, if implemented, I commit to review the price schedule within the night next nine to ten months, at which point we'll be able to integrate updates for GIS and the purchasing department and review the cost revenue structure to ensure fairness to the public. Thank you, and I invite any questions.
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