Section 876.302  Types of Department Responses

a)         The Department shall respond to a request for public records in one of three ways:

1)         Approve the request.

2)         Approve in part and deny in part.

3)         Deny the request.

b)         Upon approval of a request for public records, the Department shall either provide the materials immediately, give notice that the materials shall be made available upon payment of reproduction costs or give notice of the time and place for inspection of records.

c)         A denial of a request for public records shall be made in writing.  It shall state the reasons for the denial in accordance with either Section 3(f) or Section 7 of the FOIA and the names and titles of individuals responsible for the decision.  It shall also give notice of the requestor's right to appeal to the Director of the Department.  Copies of all denials of requests by the Department shall be kept in a central office file and shall be available for copying and inspection.

d)         Categorical requests creating an undue burden upon the Department shall be denied only after extending to the requestor an opportunity to confer in an attempt to reduce the request to manageable proportions in accordance with Section 3(f) of the FOIA.

e)         Failure to respond to a written request within 7 working days may be considered by the requestor a denial of the request.