Florida Public Records Act: Scope

Policy Number 2-100.6

Responsible Authority Vice President and General Counsel

Initiating Authority Vice President and General Counsel

This policy applies to all University of Central Florida departments, units, and employees.

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DEFINITIONS

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Public Records. All documents, papers, letters, maps, books, tapes, photographs, films, sound

recordings, data processing software or other material, regardless of physical form, or

characteristics, or means of transmission, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in

connection with the transaction of official business by any agency, which are used to

It is the policy of the University of Central Florida to comply with Florida's public records law and

Florida’s retention schedules for public records.

All documents and other written materials that are made or received pursuant to law or that are

made or received in the transaction of official university business and are used to perpetuate,

communicate, or formalize knowledge are public records, which, regardless of form, are open

for public inspection unless the legislature has specifically exempted them from disclosure.

Most documents, including email messages and text messages, created or received by

University of Central Florida employees in connection with official business are public

records. Unless a public record is exempt by statute from disclosure pursuant to the public

released pursuant to a public records request, any exempt documents or exempt information

contained within documents must be removed.

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PROCEDURES

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I. Identification and Retention of Public Records

A public record can be in any format (including email, text message, letter, notes, spreadsheet,

ledger, etc.), as long as (i) it is made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection

perpetuate or formalize knowledge and, therefore, are not public records. For example,

transitory messages which generally include such things as voicemail or phone messages, self-

sticking notes, and email messages with short-lived or no administrative value. Documents of

this type need only be kept as long as their short-term value lasts. Also, not public record, even

when created for work purposes, are notes or drafts created by an employee for their personal

use so long as these personal notes or drafts are neither shared with anyone nor filed as a

permanent record of events. However, if these non-circulated documents are placed in the file

"to perpetuate knowledge," they become public records and are subject to disclosure.

Employees may not delete public records for which they are the custodian except in

accordance with the record retention schedules applicable to UCF as a state university.

purposes, or they may print mail messages to be filed and retained. Similarly, files may be

scanned into an electronic database and the original paper files discarded.

Any department or office may be the recipient of a public records request. Requests that fall

into specific categories listed in Section IV below should be directed to the appropriate office

designated by this policy. Thus, media requests should be directed to UCF Communications;

and requests seeking university statistical data should be directed to UCF Analytics and

Integrated Planning. If a request seeks information that is in the possession or custody of the

department or office receiving the request, then that department or office should accept the

request and proceed to respond to it in accordance with the instructions below, or should

office which holds at least some of the records requested, that office should either receive the

request and forward appropriate portions of the request to other departments or offices as

needed or should designate an individual in another office to respond. The department should

send a copy of the public records request to the UCF Office of the General Counsel to

provide guidance in determining what records are exempt from disclosure.

III. Format for a Public Records Request

There is no particular format for a public records request. Public records requests may be made

in writing or orally. A department receiving a request for public records may ask that the

requestor put his or her request in writing for the sake of clarity, and may even suggest the use

of a particular form, but may not require it. A request cannot be denied because the requestor

but if the requestor refuses to clarify, then the department should attempt to respond to the

unclear request to the best of its ability.

All public records requests seeking university statistical data (such as student enrollment figures

or lists of employees) or demographic data should be forwarded to UCF Analytics and

Integrated Planning, 12424 Research Parkway, Suite 215, Orlando, FL 32826-3269, (407) 823-

5061, or iroffice@ucf.edu

.

All public records requests seeking university personnel records should be forward to UCF

Human Resources, 12201 Research Parkway, Suite 200, Orlando, FL 32826, (407) 823-2771

All public records requests seeking UCF Police Department records should be forwarded to

UCF Police Department, 3610 Libra Drive, Orlando, FL 32826, (407)823-3088, or

All media requests should be referred to UCF Communications, (407) 823-5828.

All requests from legal offices or relating to legal matters, including regulation development,

should be referred to the UCF Office of the General Counsel, 4365 Andromeda Loop N.,

MH360, Orlando, FL 32816-0015, (407) 823-2482 or [email protected]

and, as applicable, the appropriate department or unit responsible for maintaining the records.

circumstances surrounding the request, including the nature of the request, the size of the

request, the likely quantity of records to be produced, whether extensive use of information

technology resources or clerical services is required, whether the requestor or the department

or custodian has multiple requests pending, staffing levels, and the timing of the request (e.g.,

whether holidays intervene).

The department chair or administrative supervisor of the department or unit in which the

records are maintained is responsible for appointing one or more persons to gather the

requested documents. When the response to the request is being coordinated by another

office such as UCF Analytics and Integrated Planning or UCF Communications, the respondent

may either arrange a time for inspection of the documents or provide copies of the documents to