Help
Questions we get asked
If your question is not here, email the City Clerk — and if it is about a request you have already made, reply on the request itself so the answer stays with it.
How long will this take?
Three working days.
The City has three working days to respond after receiving your request. It can take up to seven more if the request is large or the records are in use — you are told before the first three days are up, not after.
Will I be charged?
Only if it takes more than an hour.
The first hour of staff time is free. Beyond that there is an hourly rate of $41.37, and you get an itemised estimate before any billable work starts. You can narrow the request or withdraw it at that point, at no cost.
Why was something withheld?
Because a specific part of the law allows it.
CORA lists the grounds for withholding a record. When something is held back you are told which ground applies and why it applies to that material — not simply that it was withheld. If you disagree, you can challenge it.
Where are my records?
In your account, under My Requests.
Released records are downloadable from the request itself, and stay there. You get an email when something is released, but you do not need the email — the files are always on the request.
Getting a faster answer
Nothing here is required. Each one narrows the search, and a narrower search is answered sooner and costs less.
- Say what kind of record
- Emails, contracts, invoices, minutes, permits. Staff search different systems for each, so naming the type points them at the right one immediately.
- Give a date range
- Even a rough year. "All records" means reading everything ever filed, which is where large fee estimates come from.
- Name the department
- Records are filed by department, not by subject. Knowing where to look is most of the work.
- Include any reference you have
- A permit number, case number, contract name or address. One identifier can replace an hour of searching.
- Keep separate topics separate
- Unrelated records bundled into one request move at the speed of the slowest part. Filed separately, they can be worked in parallel.
What happens to a request The five stages, and what the City must do at each.
- 01 Submitted Your request is logged and given a number. The three-day clock starts when it is received, not when work begins on it.
- 02 Reviewed Staff read it and decide whether it is clear enough to act on. If it is not, they contact you — the clock keeps running.
- 03 Estimated If it will take more than an hour, you get an itemised estimate. Nothing billable happens until you accept it.
- 04 Prepared Staff locate the records and review them against CORA. Anything withheld is recorded with the ground it was withheld under.
- 05 Released Records are made available on your request, along with a note of anything held back and why.
What you are entitled to
- Anyone may request records. There is no residency requirement.
- You do not have to say why you want them, and being asked is not a condition of getting them.
- You get an estimate before being charged, and you can withdraw rather than pay it.
- A refusal has to name the ground it rests on.
- You can challenge a refusal in district court.
Trouble with this website
Cannot sign in. Use the reset link on the sign-in page. If the email does not arrive within a few minutes, check spam — and if it is not there, the address may not be the one the account was created with.
A file will not download. Large records can take a moment to prepare. If it fails repeatedly, try a different browser before reporting it — a script blocker is the usual cause.
Cannot find a request. Requests are listed under the account that submitted them. If you filed one before creating an account, it is tied to the email address you used.