(a) FOIA requests shall be addressed to the Mayor, as custodian of the records requested.
(1) If a FOIA request is received by a Department employee, he or she shall immediately refer the FOIA request to his or her Department Head who shall immediately forward the FOIA request to the Mayor. The FOIA request shall then be processed as directed in this section and Section 153.05
of this Article.
(b) Upon receipt of a FOIA request, the Mayor shall:
(1) Record the date the FOIA request was received and establish a file for the FOIA request;
(2) Forward the FOIA request to the appropriate Department Head for collection of the requested information.
A. If a Department Head, or his or her designee, thinks a FOIA request was misdirected by the Mayor's Office to the Department, he or she shall immediately call the Mayor's Office for instructions.
B. When the requested information has been collected, the Department Head shall immediately forward the information to the Mayor;
(3) If the request is for records that may be in more than one Department, the FOIA request also shall be forwarded to the other relevant Department Heads. The Mayor shall select a lead Department to collect the requested records from all relevant Departments and inform the other relevant Department Heads regarding the identity of the designated lead Department;
(4) Send the appropriate Department Head the copies of any Records in the Mayor's office that are responsive to the FOIA request; and
(5) If the FOIA request is related to a potentially controversial or sensitive matter, send a copy of the FOIA request to the Legal Counsel and, if necessary, request guidance from the legal counsel for a determination of the applicability of West Virginia Code § 29B-1-4 relating to information exempt from FOIA or other provisions of law, court orders, or court recognized privileges, such as attorney-client, attorney work-product, deliberative process, etc.
(Ord. 05-14. Passed 4-24-14.)