November 16, 2017

Maine town tries to charge MuckRock $750 for opening an email

Brunswick violates state’s public records law with claim that receiving its #AmazonHQ2 entitles you to pay for “administrative and legal fees”

Written by Adanya Lustig

Edited by JPat Brown

This week, in absurd and illegal requests, Maine’s Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority said that MuckRock is required to pay $750 because we opened the email they sent with their 37-page bid for Amazon second headquarters.

MuckRock is requesting copies of the bids that towns and regions submitted to Amazon for the privilege of housing the tech giant’s second headquarters. Many places have rejected our requests, but the more than 20 bids we’ve already received came free of charge.

We won’t be paying the $750 because according to the Maine Freedom of Access Act, if the cost to fulfill the request exceeds $30, the requester must be notified in advance.

Read the $750 bid embedded below, or on the request page.

Image via Pexels.com