APRA Policy

Access to Public Record Act
APRA Request Form

Pursuant to RI General Laws Section 38-2-1, et seq., Hianloland Fire Company has established the following procedure regarding State of Rhode Island’s Access to Public Records Act (APRA):

 

  1. A public request to inspect and/or retrieve a copy of Hianloland’ public records must be presented in either writing, phone and mail/ electronic mail. All writings must be presented to the Fire Chief at either Hianloland’s Station #1 or Hianloland Station #2 on Tuesday nights from 7:00pm-9:00pm. Requests for records which are submitted via mail must addressed to Hianloland with attention to Public Record Division. The Mailing address is: Hianloland Fire Company, 244 Plain Road, West Greenwich, RI 02827. Requests can be emailed to hianlolandfire@hianlolandfire.org with subject line of ‘Public Record Request’.

  2. Once a request has been made, the designated official will provide you with a form to complete. Although the form is not required, in order to ensure compliance with APRA and that your request is expedited in a timely manner, the form allows Hianloland Fire Company the precise public documents you seek and assists the Company in processing your request in an expeditious manner.

  3. The Access to Public Records Act (APRA) allows a public body (10) business days to respond. If additional time is needed, the time to respond can be extended to an additional twenty (20) business days for ‘good cause’. We appreciate your understanding and patience.

  4.  If after review of your request, the Chief and/or designate official determines that the requested public records are exempt for reasons determined in RI General Law 38-2-1, the Chief and/or designated official will provide you with specific reasons for denial of requests in writing. You may wish to file an appeal of the Chief and/or designate official with the West Greenwich Board of Engineers. You may also file a complaint with the Rhode Island Department of Attorney General’s Office.

  5. The Rhode Island Access to Public Record Act (APRA) provides the requestor the opportunity to view and/or copy public records. Should a copy be requested, the cost per copied page of written public documents is fifteen cents ($0.15), for documents copied on common business size (letter or legal) paper. The hourly costs for a search and retrieval shall be fifteen dollars ($15.00) per hour, with no charge for the first hour. Upon receipt of a request, Hianloland Fire Company may provide the requestor an estimate, to be paid upon the request. A detailed itemization of the costs charged for search and retrieval will be provided upon completion. For purposes of search and retrieval costs, multiple requests made by you within thirty (30) days shall be considered one (1) request.

  6. Hianloland Fire Company is not obligated to produce for inspection or copying records that are not in the possession of the Company. Moreover, Hianloland Fire Company is not required to reorganize, consolidate, or compile data that is not maintained by Hianloland Fire Company in the form requested.

  7. Hianloland Fire Company is committed to providing you with public records in an expeditious and courteous manner.

If you wish to make an Access to Public Records Act (APRA) request for documents maintained by Hianloland Fire Company, please view a copy of our APRA Policy and Request Form.