Request Public Records

The Rights of Requesters and the Responsibilities of Roanoke County Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act

The Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), located in § 2.2-3700 et seq. of the Code of Virginia, guarantees citizens of the Commonwealth and representatives of the media access to public records held by public bodies, public officials, and public employees.

A public record is any writing or recording—regardless of whether it is a paper record, an electronic file, an audio or video recording, or any other format—that is prepared or owned by, or in the possession of a public body or its officers, employees, or agents in the transaction of public business. All public records are presumed to be open, and may only be withheld if a specific, statutory exemption applies.

The policy of FOIA states that the purpose of FOIA is to promote an increased awareness by all persons of governmental activities. In furthering this policy, FOIA requires that the law be interpreted liberally, in favor of access, and that any exemption allowing public records to be withheld must be interpreted narrowly.

Your FOIA Rights

• You have the right to request to inspect or receive copies of public records, or both.
• You have the right to request that any charges for the requested records be estimated in advance.  As of July 1, 2022, public bodies must notify the requester in writing that the public body may make reasonable charges not to exceed its actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, supplying, or searching for requested records and inquire of the requester whether he would like to request a cost estimate in advance of the supplying of the requested records.
• If you believe that your FOIA rights have been violated, you may file a petition in district or circuit court to compel compliance with FOIA. Alternatively, you may contact the FOIA Council for a nonbinding advisory opinion.

Making a Request for Records from Roanoke County

• You may request records by U.S. Mail, fax, email, in person, or over the phone - FOIA does not require that you use any particular method to convey your request. FOIA also does not require that your request be in writing, nor do you need to state that you are requesting records pursuant to FOIA.

• From a practical perspective, it may be helpful to both you and the person receiving your request to put your request in writing. This allows you to create a record of your request. It also gives us a clear statement of what records you ae requesting, so that there is no misunderstanding over a verbal request. However, we cannot refuse to respond to your FOIA request if you elect to not put it in writing.

• Your request must identify the records you are seeking with "reasonable specificity." This is a common-sense standard. It does not refer to or limit the volume or number of records that you are requesting; instead, it requires that you be specific enough so that we can identify and locate the records that you are seeking.
• Your request must ask for existing records or documents. FOIA gives you a right to inspect or copy records; it does not apply to a situation where you are asking general questions about the work of Roanoke County, nor does it require the County to create a record that does not exist.
• You may choose to receive electronic records in any format used by Roanoke County in the regular course of business.
  • For example, if you are requesting records maintained in an Excel database, you may elect to receive those records electronically, via email, on a computer disk or flash drive, or to receive a printed copy of those records.
• If we have questions about your request, please cooperate with staff's efforts to clarify the type of records that you are seeking, or to attempt to reach a reasonable agreement about a response to a large request. Making a FOIA request is not an adversarial process, but we may need to discuss your request with you to ensure that we understand what records you are seeking.

To request records from Roanoke County, please use the County’s online FOIA system, JustFOIA. Additional information is provided below to help answer questions about requests and the County’s responsibilities. For further assistance, contact the FOIA Officer, Amy Whittaker, at FOIA@roanokecountyva.gov or (540) 772-2010.

In addition, the Freedom of Information Advisory Council is available to answer any questions you may have about how FOIA works. The Council was created in the legislative branch of state government to issue opinions on the operation and application of FOIA, to publish educational materials, and to provide training about FOIA.  However, please be aware that the Council is not a records repository and does not process records requests on behalf of other public bodies, nor is the Council an investigative or enforcement agency.  The Council may be contacted by email at foiacouncil@dls.virginia.gov, or by phone at (804) 698-1810 or toll-free at 1-866-448-4100.

Roanoke County's Responsibilities in Responding to Your Request

• Roanoke County must respond to your request within five working days of receiving it. "Day One" is considered the day after your request is received. The five-day period does not include weekends, holidays or other days when the County is closed for business.
• The reason behind your request for public records from Roanoke County is irrelevant, and you do not have to state why you want the records before we respond to your request. FOIA does, however, allow the County to require you to provide your name and legal address.
• FOIA requires that Roanoke County make one of the following responses to your request within the five-day time period:

1. We provide you with the records that you have requested in their entirety.
2. We withhold all the records that you have requested, because all the records are subject to a specific statutory exemption. If all the records are being withheld, we must send you a response in writing. That writing must identify the volume and subject matter of the records being withheld and state the specific section of the Code of Virginia that allows us to withhold the records.
3. We provide some of the records that you have requested but withhold other records. We cannot withhold an entire record if only a portion of it is subject to an exemption. In that instance, we may redact the portion of the record that may be withheld and must provide you with the remainder of the record. We must provide you with a written response stating the specific section of the Code of Virginia that allows portions of the requested records to be withheld.
4. We inform you in writing that the requested records cannot be found or do not exist (we do not have the records you requested). However, if we know that another public body has the requested records, we must include contact information for the other public body in our response to you. 
5. If it is practically impossible for the County to respond to your request within the five-day period, we must state this in writing, explaining the conditions that make the response impossible. This will allow us an additional seven working days to respond to your request, giving us a total of 12 working days to respond to your request. In the case of criminal investigative files requested, pursuant to § 2.2-3706.1 of the Code of Virginia, we are allowed an additional 60 working days to respond to your request, giving us a total of 65 working days to respond to your request.

• If you make a request for a very large number of records, and we feel that we cannot provide the records to you within 12 working days without disrupting our other organizational responsibilities, we may petition the court for additional time to respond to your request. However, FOIA requires that we make a reasonable effort to reach an agreement with you concerning the production of the records before we go to court to ask for more time.

Charges

• You may have to pay for the records that you request from Roanoke County. A public body may make reasonable charges not to exceed its actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, supplying, or searching for the requested records. This would include items like staff time spent searching for the requested records, copying costs, or any other costs directly related to supplying the requested records. Any charges cannot include general overhead costs. No public body shall impose any extraneous, intermediary, or surplus fees or expenses to recoup the general costs associated with creating or maintaining records or transacting the general business of the public body. Any duplicating fee charged by a public body shall not exceed the actual cost of duplication. 
• Prior to conducting a search for records, the public body shall notify the requester in writing and inquire whether he would like to request a cost estimate in advance of the supplying of the requested records as set forth in subsection F of § 2.2-3704 of the Code of Virginia.
• Pursuant to Resolution 060821-2 adopted by the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors, establishing reasonable charges incurred by the County in responding to Freedom of Information Act requests for public records, the following schedule of reasonable charges is established: 

1. 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 requester responds. 
2. Charges for costs incurred in copying and printing County records are as follows:

c.  In addition to copying and printing costs, the County will charge an hourly rate for the staff person(s) searching, retrieving, copying or otherwise preparing the records requested.

d. Roanoke County waives all charges for requests that total $5.00 or less.

e. For documents or other requests not specifically listed in this section, the County Administrator shall calculate the charge based on the actual cost to the County of searching for and providing the document, including but not limited to any associated labor or administrative costs.

f.  Charges may be paid online, in cash or by check made payable to the Treasurer, Roanoke County. A receipt (receipts may be obtained through the appropriate department or the Treasurer's Office) will be provided to the requestor.

• You may request that we estimate in advance the charges for supplying the records that you have requested. This will allow you to know about any costs upfront or give you the opportunity to modify your request in an attempt to lower the estimated costs.  The five days that we have to respond to your request do not include the time between when we send you the estimate and when you respond.  If you do not respond within 30 days, then your request will be deemed to be withdrawn. 
• If you owe us money from a previous FOIA request that has remained unpaid for more than 30 days, Roanoke County may require payment of the past-due bill before it will respond to your new FOIA request.

Commonly Used Exemptions

The Code of Virginia allows any public body to withhold certain records from public disclosure. Roanoke County commonly withholds records subject to the following exemptions:

• Personnel records (§ 2.2-3705.1 (1) of the Code of Virginia),
• Complaints, memoranda, correspondence and evidence relating to a criminal investigation or prosecution, other than criminal incident information (Section 2.2-3706 (B) (1)),
• Records subject to attorney-client privilege (§ 2.2-3705.1 (2)) or attorney work product (§ 2.2-3705.1 (3)),
• Vendor proprietary information (§ 2.2-3705.1 (6)),
• Records relating to the negotiation and award of a contract, prior to a contract being awarded (§ 2.2-3705.1 (12)).