Section 0780-07-02-.06 - INSPECTION OF RECORDS(1) The records custodian shall promptly respond to a public records request for inspection in the most economic and efficient manner practicable.(2) There is no charge for inspection of public records.(3) Location and Time of Inspection (a) The records custodian shall specify the location for the inspection within the offices of the department.(b) The records custodian may require an appointment for inspection or may require inspection of records at an alternative location under reasonable circumstances.(4) The records custodian or a designated employee of the department shall remain with the responsive records at all times and take reasonable precautions to ensure that the integrity of public records is maintained during an inspection.(5) If, after viewing the records, a requestor wishes to obtain copies, costs will be calculated based on the copy, labor, and other charges accrued for the entire request. If a requestor seeks only a portion of the documents produced, charges will be calculated by taking the total costs of the records requested for inspection and dividing that cost by the total number of pages produced to create a per page rate. Separate requests for copies of documents that were included in a single inspection request shall be aggregated, within a reasonable time frame, to determine the cost of those copies. (a) A requestor may make copies of records with the requestor's personal equipment. However, prior to doing so, the requestor shall make a written request for copies as provided in Rule 0780-07-02-.04 and certify in writing that the department produced the records as initially requested. Any copies made with the requestor's personal equipment, including any in excess of the originally requested amount, shall be identified by the requestor and charged to the requestor by invoice. A requestor who fails to pay for costs of records properly produced pursuant to a request may be referred for collection of the debt owed.(b) Limitations on use of personal equipment: 1. Any video or images captured using a cell phone or other electronic recording shall be limited to the records requested for inspection.2. The requestor shall not connect any personal equipment to a department computer or electronic device, including but not limited to, wireless technology or a portable storage device to make copies of public records.(6) If a records request is determined by the PRRC or records custodian to be so large that production of all of the requested records cannot be provided for an inspection at a single time, then the records may be produced in segments. The requestor shall be notified in writing when the next segment of records is expected to be available. Written notice shall also be provided to the requestor if there is any change regarding the date of production. Costs associated with any records produced as part of such a rolling production schedule shall be paid as set out in these rules for the segment of the records produced and no additional records will be produced until payment has been received for the copies received.Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0780-07-02-.06
Original rule filed October 23, 2020; effective 1/21/2021.Authority: T.C.A. §§ 10-7-501, et seq.