A resident of Southeast Alaska contacted the Ombudsman and complained that the Alaska Mental Health Land Trust in the Department of Natural Resources would not provide public records the complainant requested. She asserted that the records should be provided for free because of the public’s interest in the information. The Ombudsman told her that there was no basis to recommend to the agency that they produce the requested records for free. The Alaska Public Records Act requires that state agencies should charge for both staff search time and reproduction costs of public records. The complainant believed that she should receive the records for free under the public interest fee waiver exception found within 2 AAC 96.370. However, any fee waiver or reduction made under this provision cannot exceed $500. Even if the agency agreed that the public interest exception applied to the complainant’s request, this would not completely eliminate the expense to produce the extensive records requested by the complainant. The Department of Law had offered to meet with the complainant, her attorney, and DNR staff to review the estimated expenses and to discuss how the complainant could reduce the overall expense. However, neither the complainant nor her attorney responded to this offer. (A2016-2101)