Freedom of Information Act Requests

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for the City of Waterville must be submitted in writing to the City Manager's office located at 1 Common Street, Waterville, Maine 04901.  Such requests can be mailed, emailed or faxed to 207-680-4207.  Under FOIA, agencies have 5 days to issue a denial and reasonable time thereafter to provide copies or access for review.

FOIA allows agencies to charge requesters for FOIA services, e.g., search and review time, copy costs, and special services like document certification and Federal Express fees.

If you are concerned about costs, ask for a cost estimate in your letter.

A sample letter is attached below for your convenience.

SAMPLE LETTER 

[Date}

Michael J. Roy, City Manager
City of Waterville
1 Common Street
Waterville, ME 04901

Re: Freedom of Information Act Request

Dear Mr. Roy:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552.

I request that a copy of the following documents [or documents containing the following information] be provided to me: [identify the documents or information as specifically as possible].

In order to help to determine my status to assess fees, you should know that I am [insert a suitable description of the requester and the purpose of the request].

[Sample requester descriptions:

--a representative of the news media affiliated with (a newspaper, magazine, television station, etc., or a public interest organization that publishes or disseminates information, etc.), and this request is made as part of news gathering and not for a commercial use.

--affiliated with an educational or noncommercial scientific institution, and this request is made for a scholarly or scientific purpose and not for a commercial use.

--an individual seeking information for personal use and not for a commercial use.

--affiliated with a private corporation and am seeking information for use in the company's business.]

[Optional] I am willing to pay fees for this request up to a maximum of $[ ]. If you estimate that the fees will exceed this amount, please inform me first.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Name
Address
City, State, Zip Code
Telephone Number [optional]