Open Records Request

The Georgia Open Records Act (O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70) requires that all city records, except those excluded by court order or by law, be open for personal inspection by any citizen of Georgia at a reasonable time and place. However, there are specific records excluded from the coverage of this law. Because many documents and records are by law made confidential or privileged, the City of Duluth has procedures in place to ensure that there are adequate review and input by the City Clerk and City Attorney for inspection requests.

Cities also adhere to the Open Meetings Act (O.C.G.A. 50-14-1-6), commonly referred to as the Sunshine Laws. The Sunshine Laws provide stipulations and regulations pertaining to public meetings. The Open Meetings Act also provides specific exceptions to the general requirement that meetings be open.

HOW TO MAKE AN OPEN RECORDS REQUEST:

Open records requests should be directed to the Office of the City Clerk, with the exception of routine requests of the Duluth Police Records Department, and Duluth Municipal Court. Designation of Open Records Officers 

Check to make sure the address you are requesting records for is inside the City Limits of Duluth.

Click here to submit an Open Records Request

Records staff will respond to each written record request in a prompt manner and will inform the requester of the estimated cost and probable turnaround time for producing the requested records. In the event that a request is made for documents that are not to be disclosed pursuant to Open Records Act, the records staff will respond in writing and provide the specific legal authority exempting the records from disclosure.

A charge of $0.10 per page of copied records will be accessed and/or a processing fee for staff time spent in research and retrieval of requested records over 15 minutes shall be applied. There is no charge for the first 15 minutes of staff time. Should the requester ask that the City mail the records to him/her, postage costs will be included in the invoice.

Payment for the requested documents is requested by the City before the records will be produced. Payment for record requests can be made via cash, money order or check (personal or company) made out to the City of Duluth. We do not have the capability to accept payment by credit card at this time.

For additional information and questions regarding open records and open meetings, please call the Office of the City Clerk at 770.476.3434.