It is the public policy of this state that all persons (except those persons incarcerated in state or local correctional facilities) are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and public employees. The people shall be informed so that they may fully participate in the democratic process.
Consistent with the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Public Act 442 of 1976, the following is the Written Public Summary of Mid Michigan College’s FOIA Procedures & Guidelines relevant to the general public.
This is only a summary of Mid Michigan College’s FOIA Procedures & Guidelines. For more details and information, see the accordion below or obtain a copy of Mid Michigan College’s FOIA Procedures & Guidelines, which are available at no charge at any College office.
Mid Michigan College will issue a response within 5 business days after receiving a FOIA request. If a request is received by fax or email, the request is deemed to have been received on the following business day. Mid Michigan College will respond to your request in one of the following ways.
If the request is granted, or granted in part, Mid Michigan College will ask that payment be made for the allowable fees associated with responding to the request before the public record is made available.
If the cost of processing the request is expected to exceed $50, or if you have not paid for a previously granted request, Mid Michigan College will require a deposit before processing the request.
If Mid Michigan College has made a good faith calculation that the total fee for processing the request will exceed $50.00, Mid Michigan College will require that you provide a deposit in the amount of 50% of the total estimated fee. When Mid Michigan College requests the deposit, it will provide you with a nonbinding best efforts estimate of how long it will take to process the request after you have paid your deposit.
If Mid Michigan College receives a request from a person who has not paid Mid Michigan College for copies of public records made in fulfillment of a previously granted written request, Mid Michigan College will require a deposit of 100% of the estimated processing fee before it begins to search for the public record for any subsequent written request when all of the following conditions exist.
Mid Michigan College will not require the 100% estimated fee deposit if any of the following apply.
The Michigan FOIA statute permits Mid Michigan College to charge for the following costs associated with processing a request.
A labor cost will not be charged for the search, examination, review, and the deletion and separation of exempt from nonexempt information unless failure to charge a fee would result in unreasonably high costs to Mid Michigan College. Costs are unreasonably high when they are excessive and beyond the normal or usual amount for those services compared to Mid Michigan College’s usual FOIA requests, because of the nature of the request in the particular instance. Mid Michigan College must specifically identify the nature of the unreasonably high costs in writing.
Mid Michigan College must use the most economical method for making copies of public records, including using double-sided printing, if cost-saving and available.
The cost of the search for and copying of a public record may be waived or reduced if in the sole judgment of the FOIA Coordinator a waiver or reduced fee is in the public interest because it can be considered as primarily benefiting the general public. Mid Michigan College may identify specific records or types of records it deems should be made available for no charge or at a reduced cost.
Mid Michigan College will discount the first $20.00 of fees for a request if you submit an affidavit stating that you are
You are not eligible to receive the $20.00 discount if you
An affidavit is sworn statement. For your convenience, Mid Michigan College has provided an Affidavit of Indigence for the waiver of FOIA fees on the back of Mid Michigan College’s FOIA Request Form.
A non-profit organization advocating for developmentally disabled or mentally ill individuals that is formally designated by the State of Michigan to carry out activities under subtitle C of the federal developmental disabilities assistance and bill of rights act of 2000, Public Law 106-402, and the protection and advocacy for individuals with mental illness act, Public Law 99-319, may receive a $20.00 discount if the request meets all of the following requirements in the Act.
If you believe that all or a portion of a public record has not been disclosed or has been improperly exempted from disclosure, you may appeal to Mid Michigan College’s President by filing a written appeal of the denial with the Office of the Mid Michigan College President.
The appeal must be in writing, specifically state the word appeal, and identify the reason or reasons you are seeking a reversal of the denial. You may use Mid Michigan College’s FOIA Appeal Form (To Appeal a Denial of Records).
Within 10 business days of receiving the appeal, Mid Michigan College’s President will respond in writing by
Whether or not you submitted an appeal of a denial to Mid Michigan College’s President, you may file a civil action in Circuit Court within 180 days after Mid Michigan College's final determination to deny your request. If you prevail in the civil action, the court will award you reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs, and disbursements. If the court determines that Mid Michigan College acted arbitrarily and capriciously in refusing to disclose or provide a public record, the court shall award you damages in the amount of $1,000.
If you believe that the fee charged by Mid Michigan College to process your FOIA request exceeds the amount permitted by state law, you must first appeal to Mid Michigan College’s President by filing a written appeal for a fee reduction to the Office of the Mid Michigan College President.
The appeal must specifically state the word appeal and identify how the required fee exceeds the amount permitted. You may use Mid Michigan College’s FOIA Appeal Form (To Appeal an Excess Fee).
Within 10 business days after receiving the appeal, Mid Michigan College’s President will respond in writing by
Within 45 days after receiving notice of Mid Michigan College’s determination of the processing fee appeal, you may commence a civil action in Circuit Court for a fee reduction. If you prevail in the civil action by receiving a reduction of 50% or more of the total fee, the court may award all or appropriate amount of reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs and disbursements. If the court determines that Mid Michigan College acted arbitrarily and capriciously by charging an excessive fee, the court may also award you punitive damages in the amount of $500.
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It is the policy of Mid Michigan College that all persons, except those incarcerated, consistent with the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and employees. The people shall be informed so that they fully participate in the democratic process.
The College’s policy with respect to FOIA requests is to comply with State law in all respects and to respond to FOIA requests in a consistent, fair, and even-handed manner regardless of who makes such a request.
The College acknowledges that it has a legal obligation to disclose all nonexempt public records in its possession pursuant to a FOIA request. The College acknowledges that sometimes it is necessary to invoke the exemptions identified under FOIA in order to ensure the effective operation of government and to protect the privacy of individuals.
The College will protect the public's interest in disclosure, while balancing the requirement to withhold or redact portions of certain records. The College’s policy is to disclose public records consistent with and in compliance with State law.
Mid Michigan College has established the following written procedures and guidelines to implement the FOIA and provide a written public summary of the specific procedures and guidelines relevant to the general public regarding how to submit written requests to the public body and explaining how to understand a public body's written responses, deposit requirements, fee calculations, and avenues for challenge and appeal. The written public summary will be written in a manner so as to be easily understood by the general public.
Pursuant to MCL 15.236, the Chief Administrative Officer of the respective public body is designated the public body’s FOIA Coordinator. A FOIA Coordinator may designate another individual to act on their behalf in accepting and processing requests and in approving a denial under section 5(4) and (5).
If a request for a public record is received by fax or email, the request is deemed to have been received on the following business day. If a request is sent by email and delivered to the College’s spam or junk-mail folder, the request is not deemed received until one day after the FOIA Coordinator first becomes aware of the request. The FOIA Coordinator shall note in the FOIA log both the date the request was delivered to the spam or junk-mail folder and the date the FOIA Coordinator became aware of the request.
The FOIA Coordinator may, in their discretion, implement administrative rules, consistent with State law and these Procedures and Guidelines, to administer the acceptance and processing of FOIA requests.
The College is not obligated to create a new public record or make a compilation or summary of information which does not already exist. Neither the FOIA Coordinator nor other College staff are obligated to provide answers to questions contained in requests for public records or regarding the content of the records themselves.
The FOIA Coordinator shall keep a copy of all written requests for public records received by the College on file for a period of at least one year.
The College will make these Procedures and Guidelines and the Written Public Summary publicly available without charge. If it does not, the College cannot require deposits or charge fees otherwise permitted under the FOIA until it is in compliance.
A copy of these Procedures and Guidelines and the College’s Written Public Summary must be publicly available by providing free copies both in the College's response to a written request and upon request by visitors at the College's office.
These Procedures and Guidelines and the College’s Written Public Summary are also available on the College’s website, midmich.edu, so a link to those documents will be provided in lieu of providing paper copies of those documents.
No specific form to submit a request for a public record is required. However, the FOIA Coordinator may make available a FOIA Request Form for use by the public.
Requests to inspect or obtain copies of public records prepared, owned, used, possessed, or retained by the College may be submitted on the College’s FOIA Request Form, in any other form of writing (letter, fax, email, etc.), or by verbal request.
A person making a verbal, non-written request for information believed to be available on the College’s website, where practical and to the best ability of the employee receiving the request, shall be informed of the pertinent website address.
A request must sufficiently describe a public record so as to enable the College personnel to identify and find the requested public record.
Written requests for public records may be submitted in person or by mail to any College office. Requests may also be submitted electronically by fax and email. Upon their receipt, requests for public records shall be promptly forwarded to the FOIA Coordinator for processing.
A person may request that public records be provided on non-paper physical media, emailed, or otherwise provided to them in digital form in lieu of paper copies. The College will comply with the request only if it possesses the necessary technological capability to provide records in the requested non-paper physical media format.
A person may subscribe to future issues of public records that are created, issued, or disseminated by the College on a regular basis. A subscription is valid for up to 6 months and may be renewed by the subscriber.
A person serving a sentence of imprisonment in a local, state, or federal correctional facility is not entitled to submit a request for a public record. The FOIA Coordinator will deny all such requests.
Unless otherwise agreed to in writing by the person making the request, the College will issue a response within five business days of receipt of a FOIA request. If a request is received by fax, email, or other electronic transmission, the request is deemed to have been received on the following business day.
The College will respond to a request in one of the following ways.
If the request is granted, or granted in part, the FOIA Coordinator will require that payment be made in full for the allowable fees associated with responding to the request before the public record is made available.
The FOIA Coordinator shall provide a detailed itemization of the allowable costs incurred to process the request to the person making the request.
A copy of these Procedures & Guidelines and the Written Public Summary will be provided to the requestor free of charge with the response to a written request for public records, provided however, that because these Procedures & Guidelines, and the Written Public Summary are maintained on the College’s website at midmich.edu, a link to the Procedures & Guidelines and the Written Public Summary will be provided in lieu of providing paper copies of those documents.
If the cost of processing a FOIA request is $50 or less, the requester will be notified of the amount due and where the documents can be obtained.
If the cost of processing a FOIA request is expected to exceed $50 based on a good-faith calculation, or if the requestor has not paid in full for a previously granted request, the College will require a good-faith deposit pursuant to Section 4 of this policy before processing the request.
In making the request for a good-faith deposit, the FOIA Coordinator shall provide the requestor with a detailed itemization of the allowable costs estimated to be incurred by the College to process the request and also provide a best efforts estimate of the timeframe it will take the College to provide the records to the requestor. The best efforts estimate shall be nonbinding on the College, but will be made in good faith and will strive to be reasonably accurate, given the nature of the request in the particular instance, so as to provide the requested records in a manner based on the public policy expressed by Section 1 of the FOIA.
If the request is denied or denied in part, the FOIA Coordinator will issue a Notice of Denial, which shall provide in the applicable circumstance.
If a request does not sufficiently describe a public record, the FOIA Coordinator may, in lieu of issuing a Notice of Denial indicating that the request is deficient, seek clarification or amendment of the request by the person making the request. Any clarification or amendment will be considered a new request subject to the timelines described in this Section.
The College shall provide reasonable facilities and opportunities for persons to examine and inspect public records during normal business hours. The FOIA Coordinator is authorized to promulgate rules regulating the manner in which records may be viewed so as to protect the College records from loss, alteration, mutilation, or destruction and to prevent excessive interference with normal College operations. Requests for certified copies: The FOIA Coordinator shall, upon written request, furnish a certified copy of a public record at no additional cost to the person requesting the public record.
If the fee estimate is expected to exceed $50.00 based on a good-faith calculation, the requestor will be asked to provide a deposit not exceeding one-half of the total estimated fee.
If a request for public records is from a person who has not paid the College in full for copies of public records made in fulfillment of a previously granted written request, the FOIA Coordinator will require a deposit of 100% of the estimated processing fee before beginning to search for a public record for any subsequent written request by that person when all of the following conditions exist
The FOIA Coordinator will not require an increased estimated fee deposit if any of the following apply
A fee may be charged for the labor cost of copying/duplication.
A fee will not be charged for the labor cost of search, examination, review, and the deletion and separation of exempt from nonexempt information unless failure to charge a fee would result in unreasonably high costs to the College because of the nature of the request in the particular instance, and the College specifically identifies the nature of the unreasonably high costs.
Costs for the search, examination review, and deletion and separation of exempt from non-exempt information are unreasonably high when they are excessive and beyond the normal or usual amount for those services (Attorney General Opinion 7083 of 2001), compared to the costs of the College’s usual FOIA requests, not compared to the College’s operating budget. (Bloch v. Davison Community Schools, Michigan Court of Appeals, Unpublished, April 26, 2011)
The following factors shall be used to determine an unreasonably high cost to the College.
The Michigan FOIA statute permits the College to charge for the following costs associated with processing a request.
Labor costs will be calculated based on the following requirements.
The cost to provide records on non-paper physical media, when so requested, will be based on the following requirements.
The cost to provide paper copies of records will be based on the following requirements.
The cost to mail records to a requestor will be based on the following requirements.
If the FOIA Coordinator does not respond to a written request in a timely manner, the College must
The cost of the search for and copying of a public record may be waived or reduced if, in the sole judgment of the FOIA Coordinator, a waiver or reduced fee is in the public interest because it can be considered as primarily benefiting the general public. The College may identify specific records or types of records it deems should be made available for no charge or at a reduced cost.
The FOIA Coordinator will discount the first $20.00 of the processing fee for a request if the person requesting a public record submits an affidavit stating that they are
An individual is not eligible to receive the waiver if
An affidavit is a sworn statement. The FOIA Coordinator may make a Fee Waiver Affidavit Form available for use by the public.
The FOIA Coordinator will discount the first $20.00 of the processing fee for a request from
When a requestor believes that all or a portion of a public record has not been disclosed or has been improperly exempted from disclosure, they may appeal to the College by filing an appeal of the denial with the Office of the College President.
The appeal must be in writing, specifically state the word appeal and identify the reason or reasons the requestor is seeking a reversal of the denial. The College FOIA Appeal Form (To Appeal a Denial of Records), may be used.
Within 10 business days of receiving the appeal, the College President will respond in writing by
If the College President fails to respond to a written appeal, or if the College President upholds all or a portion of the disclosure denial that is the subject of the written appeal, the requesting person may seek judicial review of the nondisclosure by commencing a civil action in Circuit Court.
Whether or not a requestor submitted an appeal of a denial to the College President, they may file a civil action in Circuit Court within 180 days after the College's final determination to deny the request.
If a court determines that a public record is not exempt from disclosure, it shall order the College to cease withholding or to produce all or a portion of a public record wrongfully withheld, regardless of the location of the public record. Failure to comply with an order of the court may be punished as contempt of court.
If a person asserting the right to inspect, copy, or receive a copy of all or a portion of a public record prevails in such an action, the court shall award reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs, and disbursements. If the person or the College prevails in part, the court may, in its discretion, award all or an appropriate portion of reasonable attorneys' fees, costs, and disbursements.
If the court determines that the College has arbitrarily and capriciously violated this act by refusal or delay in disclosing or providing copies of a public record, the court shall order the College to pay a civil fine of $1,000.00, which shall be deposited into the general fund of the State Treasury. The court shall award, in addition to any actual or compensatory damages, punitive damages in the amount of $1,000.00 to the person seeking the right to inspect or receive a copy of a public record. The damages shall not be assessed against an individual, but shall be assessed against the next succeeding public body that is not an individual and that kept or maintained the public record as part of its public function.
Fee means the total fee or any component of the total fee calculated under section 4 of the FOIA, including any deposit.
If a requestor believes that the fee charged by the College to process a FOIA request exceeds the amount permitted by state law or under this policy, they must first appeal to the College President by submitting a written appeal for a fee reduction to the Office of the College President.
The appeal must be in writing, specifically state the word appeal and identify how the required fee exceeds the amount permitted. The College FOIA Appeal Form (To Appeal an Excess Fee) may be used.
Within 10 business days after receiving the appeal, the College President will respond in writing by
Where the College President reduces or upholds the fee, the determination must include a certification from the College President that the statements in the determination are accurate and that the reduced fee amount complies with its publicly available procedures and guidelines and Section 4 of the FOIA.
Within 45 days after receiving notice of the College President’s determination of an appeal, the requesting person may commence a civil action in Circuit Court for a fee reduction.
If a civil action is commenced against the College for an excess fee, the College is not obligated to complete the processing of the written request for the public record at issue until the court resolves the fee dispute.
An action shall not be filed in circuit court unless one of the following applies
To the extent that these Procedures and Guidelines conflict with previous FOIA policies promulgated by the College, these Procedures and Guidelines are controlling. To the extent that any administrative rule promulgated by the FOIA Coordinator subsequent to the adoption of these Procedures and Guidelines is found to be in conflict with any previous policy promulgated by the College, the administrative rule promulgated by the FOIA Coordinator is controlling.
To the extent that any provision of these Procedures and Guidelines or any administrative rule promulgated by the FOIA Coordinator pertaining to the release of public records is found to be in conflict with any State statute, the applicable statute shall control. The FOIA Coordinator is authorized to modify this policy and all previous policies adopted by the College, and to adopt such administrative rules as she may deem necessary, to facilitate the legal review and processing of requests for public records made pursuant to Michigan's FOIA statute, provided that such modifications and rules are consistent with State law. The FOIA Coordinator shall inform the College of any changes to these Procedures and Guidelines.
These FOIA Procedures and Guidelines become effective July 1, 2015.