Availability of Public Records

Availability of Public Records (a) Hours for inspection of records. Public records are available for inspection and copying during normal business hours of the MDA, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., excluding legal holidays. Records must be inspected at the office of the MDA. The time, place and manner of inspection and copying of records will not be allowed to interfere with other essential duties of the MDA. (b) Organization of records. The MDA will maintain its records in a reasonably organized manner, subject to the rules of record retention. The MDA will take reasonable actions to protect records from damage and disorganization. A requester shall not take the MDA records from the MDA offices. A variety of records are available on the MDA web site at www.mississippi.org and at www.transparency.ms.gov. Requesters are encouraged to view the documents available on the web site prior to submitting a records request. (c) Making a request for public records. Any person wishing to inspect or copy public records of the MDA should mail or hand deliver a hard copy of the request with the following information included: 1. Name of requester 2. Address of requester 3. Other contact information, including telephone number and any e-mail address 4. Identification of the public records adequate to locate the records 5. The date and time of day of the request If the requester wishes to have copies of the records made instead of simply inspecting them, he or she should so indicate and make arrangements to pay for copies of the records or a deposit. Pursuant to Rule 1.8. Costs of Providing Public Records of this policy, standard 8 ½” X 11” photocopies will be provided at $.25 a page. (See No. 5.8 Costs of Providing Public Records for additional costs and charges).