I don't agree with charging fees for access to information. Internationally, countries are much more likely not to charge fees.
Be that as it may, from a much more practical perspective, I would like to point out that, first of all, fees never ensure costs recovery. Second of all, the costs of cashing in a $5 cheque is higher than the value of the cheque. I am sure of that. In addition, fee implementation leads to complaints. The investigation of complaints is expensive. As I was telling your colleague, we do not impose fees just to end up investigating complaints.
I think our system lacks efficiency and effectiveness. This is not a way to recover costs. It's not my job to decide whether or not the government's actions are transparent. I simply find that, from a practical perspective, this is not an effective approach.