537 POLICY ON MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC RECORDS ACT
Mississippi law (Miss. Code Ann. 25-61-1) requires that public entities, including Jones County Junior College, provide access to or copies of public records in response to a written request. Public records include books, records, papers, accounts, letters, maps, photographs, etc. possessed by the college and used in conducting public business. The law requires a public entity that receives a public records request to comply with the written request within one day of the receipt unless the governing body for that public entity has adopted a written policy extending the time for compliance for up to, but not to exceed, seven working days. The college adopts a policy which provides for responses to public records requests to be made within seven working days from the date of the request.
Despite the mandate for open disclosure of public records, there are a number of exceptions which would limit disclosure. For example, academic records, personnel files, and trade secrets are exempt from disclosure.
The VP of Marketing and Recruiting and also the VP of Business Affairs have been designated as the Public Records Officers for the college. Therefore, all public records requests must be submitted to the appropriate Public Records Officer. Any person contacting a college department in person, via telephone, or via e-mail to request access to any college records should be advised that all requests must be submitted to the appropriate Public Records Officer. Under no circumstances should any employee other than the appropriate Public Records Officer grant or deny any request for access to records.
Public records request must be submitted to the appropriate VP based on the nature of the request. If the specific information sought relates to non-business related matters (i.e., photographs, athletic information, and enrollment) these requests must be submitted to the VP of Marketing and Recruiting. If the specific information sought relates to business related matters (i.e., budget, employment, college operations, and any undesignated topic) these requests must be submitted to the VP of Business Affairs.
In order to request public records from Jones County Junior College, all public records requests must be in written on paper, dated, signed by the requestor, and transmitted in one of the following ways to the college’s Public Records Officer.
Additionally, the request must identify the specific information sought and include the name of the requestor, the address of the requestor, and the current contact information of requestor.
Requestors will be charged for the actual cost of searching for, reviewing and, if necessary, redacting exempt information from public records. Likewise, requestors will be charged for photocopies of requested documents as well as actual costs of mailing, including the cost of the shipping container. The college requires payment in advance via cash, bank check or money order, for all costs as noted above before providing copies or access to records.