It is the policy of York County to facilitate public access to the official records of the County and to make such records available and to respond to requests for access in a timely fashion.
Under normal circumstances, department directors are authorized to grant requests received by their respective departments for official document inspection and/or copying by citizens. Official records shall be open to inspection and/or copying during regular office hours of the County office/department having custody of them, unless they are records that are excluded from Freedom of Information Act coverage.
Since complicating and legal factors may have to be considered in some cases, certain requests shall be forwarded immediately to the Public Information Officer. The Public Information Officer shall be responsible for coordinating with the County Administrator and requesting the County Attorney's legal advice and counsel whenever necessary.
Requests for official County records pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act must designate the record(s) with reasonable specificity. However, a specific reference to the Freedom of Information Act by the requestor is not necessary to invoke the time limits for response by the County. The initial response to the request for records shall be provided within five (5) work days after receipt of the request and shall be one of the following:
- Making the records available in writing as requested;
- Advising the requestor in writing that the records are being withheld as permitted by the Act or other statute, including citations of the section(s) of the Code that exempt the records from disclosure and identifying with reasonable particularity the volume and subject matter of the withheld records;
- Making only part of the requested records available and advising the requestor in writing that the remainder are being withheld and including the specific citations of the Code section(s) that exempt the records from disclosure identifying with reasonable particularity the subject matter of the withheld portions;
- Informing the requestor in writing that it is not practically possible to identify or collect the requested records within five (5) work days, and explaining why. If this response is made within five (5) work days, the County has an additional seven (7) days to make one of the preceding three responses.
The County is not obligated to compile information or reports that are not in existence. Generally, when minimum search time is required, there will be no charge for the viewing only of an official document. When extensive search time is required to provide the document(s) for viewing, or when copies of such documents are requested, charges are based on reimbursement to the County for the cost of searching for and reproducing such documents. If the charges to search for and reproduce the documents are expected to exceed $200, the County may require payment of the estimated costs in advance by the requestor. If such advance payment is required, the time allowed for response stops running until the requestor responds.
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUESTS