Recognize, route, and hand off
If someone asks for records or information, use this path rather than deciding the request yourself.
Keep the original message and attachments with the request as you use the official intake route. Do not promise a response date or decide what may be disclosed.
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1
Recognize the request
Treat a request for organizational records or information as a possible public records request, even if it arrives in a conversation, email, or at a service counter. If unsure, route it to official intake.
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2
Use official intake
Send the request and its original message or attachments through your organization's authorized intake route. Include the date received and the channel through which it arrived.
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3
Alert the preservation contact when relevant
If the request may involve records that need preservation, notify the designated preservation contact through the approved handoff. Do not make independent retention or deletion decisions.
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4
Leave response ownership with the authorized role
The authorized response owner coordinates next handling and any response. Do not promise disclosure, interpret exemptions, or send records directly unless your approved procedure authorizes that action.
Worked example: inspection notes at a service counter
A resident asks a Harbor County Services counter employee for last month's inspection notes. The employee records the date and channel, forwards the request and any original written message through official intake, and alerts the preservation contact because the request may relate to records that need preservation.
The employee does not search personal files, decide which notes can be released, or promise when the resident will receive them. Official intake logs and routes the request; the authorized response owner coordinates the response under approved procedures.
Roles, ownership, and upkeep
Official intake receives, logs, and routes possible requests. Preservation contact receives concerns about preserving potentially relevant records; this handoff does not decide retention requirements. Response owner coordinates authorized review and response. The receiving employee routes the request and avoids making disclosure decisions.
Public Service Operations owns this fictional example guide. Ask the official intake role for help identifying the approved routing procedure. Send an outdated-route or guidance correction through that role to Public Service Operations; do not include sensitive request material outside its authorized intake process.
This page covers disclosure-request routing, not internal records-retention decisions. Use the organization's authoritative retention procedure for those decisions.