CITY OF BETHANY OPEN RECORDS REQUEST FORM 
The Oklahoma Open Records Act permits a public body to require a requestor to complete a records request form to receive or view records pursuant to 51 O.S. § 24A.5(7), as effective November 1, 2025. Any person requesting records is only required to provide enough contact information so the municipality can notify you if the request is ready, send the request to you, or contact you if clariﬁcation is needed. 
1. Name: 							2. Date: 
3. Email Address: 						4. Phone: 
5. Mailing Address: 
6. Company/ Organization/ Firm (if applicable): 
7. Purpose of Request: (check one) ☐ Personal ☐ Commercial ☐ News Media (List org.): ☐ Scholar ☐ Other (specify): 	
8. I prefer records to be provided: ☐ Physical Copies (see fee schedule) ☐ For Inspection 
  ☐ Certiﬁed Copies ($1.00 per page) ☐ Digital Copies via Email (see fee schedule) 
9. Description of request: Be as speciﬁc as possible, include the title or description of the speciﬁc records below, speciﬁc search terms on box 10, and a date range on box 11. Narrowing your request will help to make sure your records are produced in a timely fashion and ensures that you are provided with the speciﬁc records you seek. There is no duty to create a record that does not exist to fulfill a request. 51 O.S. § 24A.18.

 
10. Suggested Speciﬁc Search Terms: Please separate search terms by a semi-colon; 

11. Date Range: Starting Date (  /  /    ): Ending Date (  /  /    ):
12. Understanding the Records Request Process and the Open Records Act. • Some records can be produced promptly.  Other records may require time to search in which case you will be notiﬁed when the records are ready for pickup or inspection. • By making this request for records, you agree to pay all copying and search fees, if applicable, in the amounts and under such conditions as posted in our office and on ﬁle with the county clerk. These charges are set at a level to compensate the municipality for the actual costs incurred in honoring your request. • You may be required to pay in advance if estimated costs exceed $55 or if you have outstanding fees from prior requests. Any amount paid in excess of actual costs will be refunded. 51 O.S. § 24A.5(4) • You may be asked to clarify your request if the request does not describe the records with reasonable speciﬁcity. To have reasonable speciﬁcity, a request shall: “a) specify a general time frame within which the requested records would have been created or transmitted, b) seek identiﬁable records, rather than general information without any qualiﬁers or other speciﬁcations, and c) include search terms that are sufficiently speciﬁc to assist the public body in identifying the requested records.” 51 O.S. § 24A.5(7) • The municipality may ask you to clarify your request. If the municipality has engaged with you to seek the information needed to fulﬁll the request and to identify the records sought by you, including providing you with general topics or a speciﬁc list of records related to the request, the request may be denied if it is still not reasonably speciﬁc. 51 O.S. § 24A.5(7), • The municipality has the ability to determine whether a request is for a commercial purpose. 51 O.S. § 24A.5 (4), 51 O.S. § 24A.40 • The public body is permitted to email records but is not required to do so. A public body should not provide or deliver records in a form that materially alters or removes the content of the original record. See Wagner v. Office of Sheriff of Custer Cnty., 2021 OK CIV APP 20, ¶ 6, 492 P.3d 1240, 1242. Brooke vs. Reed, 2024 OK CIV APP Case No. 121604 ¶ 17 (not for official publication) and the AG opinions 1999 OK AG 55 and 2006 OK AG 35. • A person whose request to inspect or copy a public record is denied by a public body may ﬁle a request for review with the Public Access Counselor in the Attorney General’s office not later than 30 calendar days after the date of the denial. The Attorney General may issue advisory opinions if requested by the head of the public body or its attorney.
INTERNAL USE ONLY (separate paper from request form) 
Name: Phone: Email Address: Time of request: Date: _______________________ Time: ________:________am/pm Time access provided: Date: _______________________ Time: ________:________ am/pm 
Copy fee charged ☐Yes ☐No (up to 0.25 per page) Does the requestor want certiﬁed copies? ☐Yes  ☐No (up to 1.00 per page for certiﬁed) Number of copy pages: ______ Search fee charged ☐Yes ☐No Non-attorney search time: ______________ hours, __________ minutes 
Attorney search/legal review time: _________ hours, ___________ minutes 
(Please note: the fee schedules must be posted publicly at the municipalities office and with the county clerk. A search fee may be charged according to number 4 of 51 O.S. § 24A.5. However, “In no case shall a search fee be charged when the release of records is in the public interest, including, but not limited to, release to the news media, scholars, authors and taxpayers seeking to determine whether those entrusted with the affairs of the government are honestly, faithfully, and competently performing their duties as public servants.”) Example search fees and fee schedules: Attorney General’s Office: https://oklahoma.gov/oag/news/open-records-request.html City of Tulsa: https://www.cityoftulsa.org/media/26553/executive-order-no-2024-08.pdf City of Oklahoma City: https://www.okc.gov/Government/Records/Records-Request/Public-Records-Fees Midwest City: https://www.midwestcityok.org/police/page/records-fees 
Deposit charged $___________ 
(Deposit can only be charged if estimated costs exceed $75 or if they have outstanding fees from previous requests. Any portion of an advance payment that exceeds the costs of responding to the request shall be returned to the requestor 51 O.S. § 24A.5(4) 
Total charge $___________ Charges paid $ __________ Billed $___________ Receipt number $___________ 
Anticipated time needed to produce the request: ________________________________________________ 
(Please note: Under number 6 of 51 O.S. § 24A.5, “A public body must provide prompt, reasonable access to its records but may establish reasonable procedures which protect the integrity and organization of its records and to prevent excessive disruptions of its essential functions. A delay in providing access to records shall be limited solely to the time required for preparing the requested documents and the avoidance of excessive disruptions of the public body’s essential functions. In no event may production of a current request for records be unreasonably delayed until after completion of a prior records request that will take substantially longer than the current request. Any public body which makes the requested records available on the Internet shall meet the obligation of providing prompt, reasonable access to its records as required by this paragraph.”)
The requested _(Insert name of records here)_records were not produced/ redacted for the reason(s) indicated:

☐   The request is not reasonably speciﬁc under 51 O.S. § 24A.5(7) and working with the requestor to narrow the request has not been successful.  
☐   Information redacted from a utility service because it is a personal email address, credit information, credit card numbers, telephone numbers, social security numbers, bank account information for individual customers or contains the name or any other identiﬁer of the occupants of any residential structure. (51 O.S. § 24A.10 (D)) 
☐   Contact information in license applications, including addresses, phone numbers and IDs (51 O.S. § 24A.5) 
☐   The requestor no longer wants the record because the information is available on the municipal website. Under 51 O.S. § 24A.5(6) Any public body which makes the requested records available on the Internet shall meet the obligation of providing prompt, reasonable access to its records.  
☐   Municipal attorney has determined the information relates to an investigation or litigation or is privileged legal material. (51 O.S. § 24A. 12, 12 O.S. §§ 2502, 2510, and 3226(B)(3)) 
☐   Requested records do not exist or were destroyed under the record retention policy in accordance with statute.  
 Ex. Policy : https://www.okc.gov/ﬁles/assets/city/v/1/auditor/documents/records-retention-manual-2.pdf  
☐   Other reason: _______________________________________________ 
(Note: Before checking a box consult with your municipal attorney to make sure the exemption applies)  
Signature of Record Custodian___________________________________

 

CITY OF BETHANY
RULES AND FEES
FOR THE PRODUCTION OF RECORDS

The public is entitled by Oklahoma law to inspect and/or receive copies of certain City records. To make a request you may:
1.	Make the request in person, Monday through Friday during normal business hours and complete the request for records form. The forms are available at the following authorized distribution points: 
a.	City Manager’s Office
b.	City Clerk’s Office
c.	Police Station
d.	Fire Station
2.	Submit a request for records form via email to the City Clerk & Finance Department at the email link provided on Bethany’s website at: https://www.cityofbethany.org
3.	Pay any of the following fees that may be applicable, at the time of delivery of the records: 
Copies (B & W, 8 ½ x 14 or smaller)………..………………………….……………………..$0.25/page 
Color (8 ½ x 14 or smaller)…………………..……………….………………………………….$0.50/page
Digital…………………………………………………………………………………………………..$0.25/page
Certified……………………………………………………………………………………………….$1.00/page
Large prints (24 x 36 or smaller)......................................................................$5.00/page
Flash Drive …….…………………………………………………………………………Actual Cost + $5.00   

To Protect the City of Bethany’s Information Technology Systems, the City of Bethany does not accept flash drives from requesters. 
Search and/or redaction fee by Staff………………….………….………………………..$40.00/hour
Search and Legal Review by Attorney for redactions…………………….…………...$150.00/hour
A minimum search fee of $55.00 will be charged for any request the City of Bethany deems to be commercial or is so large it would clearly cause excessive disruption to the City of Bethany’s essential functions. In such circumstances, the City of Bethany must receive the minimum search fee prior to initiating the search. Prior to charging a legal review or staff redaction fee, the City of Bethany will advise requester with an estimate of time and total fee. All hourly rates are charged at ¼ of an hour.
We are not required to provide a copy of a document which we cannot reproduce using our equipment. No document can be removed from the building where it is stored.