Resources for Public Information Liaison Coordinators (PILCs) and Cost Info & Estimates

Information, Responsibilities & Processes

List of PILC Contacts

TAMU Public Information Liaison Coordinators.

Public Information Liaison Coordinators (PILC) & Public Information Liaison (PIL) Responsibilities

Public Information Liaison Coordinator (PILC):

University Colleges, Divisions, and Executive Offices shall appoint a primary and secondary PILC to perform public information related functions.

These appointed individuals are formally assigned the role of PILC by the President, Vice President, Dean or Department Head, and annually evaluated on public information related duties written into the position description and performance goals.

PILC’s are responsible for administering or managing public information requests for departments within the College, Division or Executive Office.

PILC’s are responsible for notifying appropriate administrators within a College, Division or Executive Office of a request.

PILC’s are required to complete TAMU PILC on-line training.

PILC’s are responsible for coordinating responses from the College, Division or Executive Office on public information related issues and routing responses to the TAMU Open Records Office.

PILC’s are responsible for training and distributing communication from the TAMU Open Records Office to departmental liaisons within the College, Division or Executive Office.

Public Information Liaison (PIL)

A PIL is a TAMU employee appointed by the PILC of a College, Division or Executive Office. A PIL is responsible for searching for departmental documents that are responsive to public information requests and routing responsive information to their appointed PILC.

Responses to Public Information Requests

The Public Information Liaison Coordinator (PILC) shall provide all documents that are responsive to a request to the Open Records Office by the date indicated on the activity assignment;

Records shall be uploaded to the Public Information database or forwarded electronically (via e-mail, flash drive or CD) when possible.

If necessary to provide hard copies, copies should be single sided and staples removed.

No redactions shall be made to responsive documents.

Responses to multiple items shall be sorted and identified per item.

Concerns regarding release of certain responsive items shall be noted and provided to the Open Records Office with the response.

If additional sources for responsive information are known by your office/department, the Open Records Office shall be notified as soon as possible.

A response to a public information request includes responsive documents that exist at the time of a request.

A governmental body is not required to create new documents in response to a request.

A data base, as it exists at the time of a request, is considered an existing document.

The Open Records Office will assist the PILC with cost estimates as described in System Regulation 61.01.02, Section 4. https://policies.tamus.edu/61-01-02.pdf

The University does not charge for under 50 copies.

Cost estimates may be an option if a request will cost more than $40 to process.

Cost estimates should be determined by taking a sample section of the responsive information and multiplying the sample by the total number of sections.

Actual work should not be done until the requestor agrees to the cost estimate.

All decisions regarding withholding or releasing records will be made in accordance with System Regulation 61.01.02, Section 5. https://policies.tamus.edu/61-01-02.pdf

Cost Information and Estimates for Open Records

IF THE DEPARTMENT ELECTS THE OPTION TO CHARGE AND THE COST TO PROVIDE INFORMATION WILL EXCEED $40, A COST ESTIMATE MUST BE SENT TO THE REQUESTOR:

An itemized cost estimate is not required if the cost will not exceed $40. Proceed with gathering the responsive information as usual.
If the estimated cost is over $40, but under $100; do a sample of the work to determine the cost estimate, and proceed with gathering responsive information as usual.
If the estimated cost is over $100, do a sample of the work to determine the cost estimate, and no further action is necessary until the requestor responds to the cost estimate.

TO DETERMINE THE COST ESTIMATE:

Do a sample of the work (unit). The unit may be a certain number of pages, a file, a file drawer, etc. Multiply the sample unit, by the total number of units. This is a good faith estimate. It may need to be revised later in the process, if necessary.

Example Cost Estimate

Additional Tips and Resources

TAMU System Policies and Regulations

System Policy 61.01, Public Information Act Compliance
http://policies.tamus.edu/61-01.pdf

System Regulation 61.01.02, Public Information
http://policies.tamus.edu/61-01-02.pdf