Complainant alleged that the City violated the APRA when it charged prepayment for documents responsive to his APRA request. We found that the City properly charged for matters fairly within the ambit of search and retrieval, as permitted by R.I. Gen. Laws § 38-2-4(b). We also noted that the City permissibly allocated one half-hour of search and retrieval time to a prior APRA request, which was made within the same thirty-day period as the instant APRA request. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 38-2-4(b). Because it was undisputed that the Complainant never paid the requested prepayment, and because we found that the prepayment was for "costs properly charged[,]" the City did not violate the APRA when it withheld documents while it was awaiting receipt of prepayment. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 38-2-7(b). Accordingly, we found no violation.
