How to get public records

How Milton works · Lesson 6

Contracts, emails, invoices, policies: most of what the city keeps belongs to you. Georgia’s Open Records Act lets anyone ask, from anywhere, for any reason. Here’s how it works.

How to ask

• Put it in writing. Oral requests are allowed, but only written ones are enforceable.
• Milton takes requests online through its records portal, miltonga.justfoia.com. An agency that does business by email has to accept requests by email too.
• No ID, no reason needed for an ordinary request.

The clock

The city has three business days. By then it must hand over what it can find and, for anything else, give you a description of the records and a timeline. Weekends, holidays and the day it receives your request don’t count. Three days is a deadline, not a waiting period: records that are ready should come sooner.

What it costs

• The first 15 minutes of work are free. After that, the city can charge for search and redaction at the hourly pay of the lowest-paid employee who can do it.
• Copies: 10 cents a page on paper. Electronic records cost only the media.
• Over $25, the city owes you an estimate first, and can wait for your OK. Over $500, it can ask you to pay up front.
• There’s no fee waiver in Georgia law, for the press or anyone else.

When the city says no

The Act lists exemptions, such as some police investigation files and personal information. If the city withholds anything, it has to cite the specific section of the law, and release the parts that aren’t exempt.

Ask for records, not answers

The law covers records that already exist. The city doesn’t have to answer a question or make a new report. So instead of “When does the contract renew?” ask for “the signed contract and every amendment.” When a fact lives in a system, ask for “records sufficient to show” it.

Georgia Open Records Act, O.C.G.A. 50-18-70 to 50-18-78. Not legal advice.

Quick check

1. How long does the city have to respond to a records request?

   Three business daysThirty daysWhenever staff gets to it

2. What does the first 15 minutes of staff work cost you?

   $25Nothing10 cents a minute

3. You want to know when a contract renews. What should you ask for?

   An answer to your questionThe signed contract and every amendmentA summary from staff