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1. What is the Maine Freedom of Access Act?

The Maine Freedom of Access Act (“FOAA”) grants the people of Maine a broad right of access to public records while protecting legitimate governmental interests and the privacy rights of individual citizens. The act also ensures the accountability of government to its citizens by requiring public access to the meetings of public bodies as well as public records. Transparency and open decision-making are fundamental principles of the Maine Freedom of Access Act, and they are essential to ensuring continued trust and confidence in our government. The City of Biddeford is required to comply with Maine's Freedom of Access Act. A full text of the Act is available through the Maine Legislature's Statues website.

2. What is a public record?

The FOAA defines "public record" as "any written, printed or graphic matter or any mechanical or electronic data compilation from which information can be obtained, directly or after translation into a form susceptible of visual or aural comprehension, that is in the possession or custody of an agency or public official of this State or any of its political subdivisions, or is in the possession or custody of an association, the membership of which is composed exclusively of one or more of any of these entities, and has been received or prepared for use in connection with the transaction of public or governmental business or contains information relating to the transaction of public or governmental business".

There are a number of exceptions to "public records" A number of exceptions are specified. The Act and exceptions can be found on the State of Maine 1 M.R.S. § 402(3).

3. What is a FOAA request?

A FOAA request is a request to obtain a copy of a public record submitted to the government agency's public access officer.

4. Does the FOAA request have to be in writing?

There is no central records office that services Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) requests within the City of Biddeford. There are no forms required nor does the request have to be in writing; however, the City strongly urges that all FOAA requests be in writing (email, fax, letter, etc.) in order to maintain a record of when the request was received, what records were requested, an understanding of the search period, and who requested the document(s). 

Regardless of the format of the request, there must be sufficient information provided to direct staff in the search for records and to ensure that contact can be made with the requester. To assist citizens, a Request for Public Information form (PDF) has been created for convenience.

5. What should my FOAA request say or include?

In order for the City to promptly respond to your request, you should be as specific as possible when describing the records you are seeking. If a particular document is required, it should be identified precisely—preferably by author, date and title. However, a request does not have to be that specific. If you cannot identify a specific record, you should clearly explain the type of records you are seeking, from what time frame, and what subject the records should contain. 

For example, assume you want to obtain a list of vendors that the City paid in exchange for goods and services in July of 2016. A request for “all vendor payments” is very broad and would likely produce volumes of records. The fees for such a request would be very high; the City would likely find your request too vague and ask that you make it more specific. On the other hand, a request for “all records of payments to vendors paid by the City in July 2016” is specific and lists the type of record, the purpose of the record, and the time frame. A justification for your request is not required, although you might also want to explain what information you hope to learn from the record as this additional explanation may help the City narrow its search and find a record that meets the exact request.

6. Who should I send my FOAA request to within the City?

The City's public access officer under FOAA is the Assistant to the City Manager. However, be advised that the City will process all FOAA requests regardless of whether or not the request is submitted directly to the public access officer as long as the request is identifiable as a FOAA request.

• Email the Public Access Officer
• Express Mail:
  City of Biddeford
  Attn: FOAA Request
  205 Main Street
  Biddeford, ME 04005
• Fax: 207-284-9313
• Mail:
  City of Biddeford
  Attn: FOAA Request
  P.O. Box 586
  Biddeford, ME 04005

7. Does the City have to acknowledge receipt of my request?

Yes. the City must acknowledge receipt of a request within 5 working days of receipt by the City.

8. Is the City authorized to ask me for clarification concerning my request?

Yes. Under Maine's FOAA, the City may request clarification concerning which public record or public records are being requested.

9. Does the City have to estimate how long it will take to respond to my request?

Yes. the City must provide a good faith, nonbinding estimate of how long it will take to comply with the request "within a reasonable period of time" after receiving the request. The City is required to make a good faith effort to fully respond within the given estimated time.

10. In what form can I expect the records to be in response to my FOAA request?

• A person may inspect or copy any public record in person during reasonable office hours.
• The City is not required to prepare reports, summaries, or compilations not in existence on the date of your request.
• If the public record is electronically stored, the City must provide the public record either as a printed document or in the medium in which the record is stored, except that the City is not required to provide access to an electronically stored public record as a computer file if the City does not have the ability to separate or prevent the disclosure of confidential information contained in or associated with that file.
• The City shall mail the copy (copies) upon request.
• The City can schedule the time for your inspection, conversion, and copying of the records during regular City business hours, and at a time that will not delay or inconvenience the regular activities of the City.

11. Can I be charged for the FOAA Request?

There is no initial fee for submitting a FOAA request. 

The City may charge fees for the time spent searching for, retrieving, compiling or redacting confidential information from the requested records. The FOAA authorizes agencies or officials to charge up to $25 per hour after the first two hours of staff time per request. Where conversion of a record is necessary, the agency or official may also charge a fee to cover the actual cost of conversion. The City of Biddeford's policy is to charge $15 per hour after the first two hours of staff time per request.  The City requires payment of all costs before the public record will be provided to the requester.

The City cannot charge an individual to inspect records unless the public record cannot be inspected without being compiled or converted. However, the City can and normally does charge for copying records. Requests for copies of documents will be subject to a fee of $0.10 per page for a standard 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches black and white copy of a record. The City may charge for the actual cost of a device used to store the public record, such as a flash drive, if the storage device will be given to the requester. The City may also charge for the actual mailing costs to mail a copy of a record.

The City must prepare an estimate of the time and cost required to complete a request within a reasonable amount of time of receipt of the request. If the time to prepare is estimated to be greater than two hours, the City will notify the requester before proceeding to ensure that they accept the fee. The City may request payment prior to beginning the search for records if the estimated total cost for the request exceeds $100 or if the requester has previously failed to pay a fee properly assessed under the FOAA.

12. Is the City subject to penalties for failure to comply with the Freedom of Access Act?

A local government entity whose officer or employee commits a willful violation of Maine's FOAA commits a civil violation for which a forfeiture of not more than $500 may be adjudged. Under the current law, there are no criminal penalties for failure to comply with a request for public records.