• You have the right to request to inspect or receive copies of public records, or both.
• You have the right to request that any charges for the requested records be estimated in advance.
• If you believe that your FOIA rights have been violated, you may file a petition in district or circuit court to compel compliance with FOIA. Alternatively, you may contact the FOIA Council for a nonbinding advisory opinion.

Before making a FOIA request, please read the important bullet points below:

• You are required to provide your name and legal address.

• You may request records by U.S. Mail, fax, e-mail, in person, or over the phone. FOIA does not require that your request be in writing, nor do you need to specifically state that you are requesting records under FOIA.  Please Note: If you are making a FOIA request for information from the Sheriff's or Clerk of the Circuit Court), you will need to contact that office directly (contact information given below).

• From a practical perspective, it may be helpful to both you and the person receiving your request to put your request in writing. This allows you to create a record of your request. It also gives us a clear statement of what records you are requesting, so that there is no misunderstanding over a verbal request. However, we cannot refuse to respond to your FOIA request if you elect to not put it in writing.

• Your request must identify the records you are seeking with "reasonable specificity." This is a common-sense standard. It does not refer to or limit the volume or number of records that you are requesting; instead, it requires that you be specific enough so that we can identify and locate the records that you are seeking.

• Your request must ask for existing records or documents. FOIA gives you a right to inspect or copy records; it does not apply to a situation where you are asking general questions about the work of Bedford County, nor does it require Bedford County to create a record that does not exist.

• You may choose to receive electronic records in any format used by Bedford County in the regular course of business. For example, if you are requesting records maintained in an Excel database, you may elect to receive those records electronically, via e-mail or on a computer on a computer disk, or to receive a printed copy of those records.

• If we have questions about your request, please cooperate with staff's efforts to clarify the type of records that you are seeking, or to attempt to reach a reasonable agreement about a response to a large request. Making a FOIA request is not an adversarial process, but we may need to discuss your request with you to ensure that we understand what records you are seeking.

To request records from Bedford County, the Treasurer or the Commissioner of Revenue:

Direct your request or any questions you have to FOIA Officer Brandon Butler:

• Phone: 540-586-7601
• Email Brandon your request.
• Mail your request to Bedford County Administration Office, Attn. Brandon Butler, FOIA Officer, 122 E. Main Street, Suite 202, Bedford, VA 24523

To request records from the Bedford County Sheriff's Office:

Call them at 540-586-4800 or follow this link to their FOIA page.

To request records from the Clerk of the Circuit Court's office:

Contact Clerk of the Circuit Court Judy Reynolds:

• Phone: 540-586-7632
• Mail your request to Bedford County Circuit Court, Attn. Judy Reynolds, 123 E. Main Street, Suite 201, Bedford, VA 24523.

In addition, the Freedom of Information Advisory Council is available to answer any questions you may have about FOIA. The Council may be contacted by e-mail at foiacouncil@dls.virginia.gov, or by phone at (804) 225-3056 or [toll free] 1-866-448-4100. 

• Bedford County must respond to your request within five working days of receiving it. "Day One" is considered the day after your request is received. The five-day period does not include weekends or holidays.
• You do not have to state why you want the records before we respond to your request. FOIA does, however, allow Bedford County to require you to provide your name and legal address; the FOIA process is not available to non-residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
• The County is not obligated to compile information or reports that are not in existence.
• FOIA requires that Bedford County make one of the following responses to your request within the five-day time period (not including holidays or weekends): 

1. We provide you with the records that you have requested in their entirety.
2. We withhold all of the records that you have requested, because all of the records are subject to a specific statutory exemption. If all of the records are being withheld, we must send you a response in writing. That writing must identify the volume and subject matter of the records being withheld, and state the specific section of the Code of Virginia that allows us to withhold the records.
3. We provide some of the records that you have requested, but withhold other records. We cannot withhold an entire record if only a portion of it is subject to an exemption. In that instance, we may redact the portion of the record that may be withheld, and must provide you with the remainder of the record. We must provide you with a written response stating the specific section of the Code of Virginia that allows portions of the requested records to be withheld.
4. We inform you in writing that the requested records cannot be found or do not exist (we do not have the records you want). However, if we know that another public body has the requested records, we must include contact information for the other public body in our response to you.
5. If it is practically impossible for Bedford County to respond to your request within the five-day period, we must state this in writing, explaining the conditions that make the response impossible. This will allow us seven additional working days to respond to your request, giving us a total of 12 working days to respond to your request.

• If you make a request for a very large number of records, and we feel that we cannot provide the records to you within 12 working days without disrupting our other organizational responsibilities, we may petition the court for additional time to respond to your request. However, FOIA requires that we make a reasonable effort to reach an agreement with you concerning the production or the records before we go to court to ask for more time.

• A public body may make reasonable charges not to exceed its actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, supplying, or searching for the requested records. No public body shall impose any extraneous, intermediary, or surplus fees or expenses to recoup the general costs associated with creating or maintaining records or transacting the general business of the public body. Any duplicating fee charged by a public body shall not exceed the actual cost of duplication. All charges for the supplying of requested records shall be estimated in advance at the request of the citizen as set forth in subsection F of § 2.2-3704 of the Code of Virginia.

• While the County generally tries to avoid charging citizens for the production of records, there may be occasions when responding to the request will involve numerous records and considerable staff time and you may have to pay for the records that you request from the County.  The FOIA allows us to charge for the actual costs of responding to FOIA requests. This would include items like staff time spent searching for the requested records, copying costs, or any other costs directly related to supplying the requested records. It cannot include general overhead costs.

• If we estimate that it will cost more than $200 to respond to your request, we may require you to pay a deposit, not to exceed the amount of the estimate, before proceeding with your request. The five days that we have to respond to your request does not include the time between when we ask for a deposit and when you respond.

• You may request that we estimate in advance the charges for supplying the records that you have requested. This will allow you to know about any costs upfront, or give you the opportunity to modify your request in an attempt to lower the estimated costs.

• If you owe us money from a previous FOIA request that has remained unpaid for more than 30 days, the County of Bedford may require payment of the past-due bill before it will respond to your new FOIA request.

• These records may be paper records, electronic files or audio recordings.  If you are unsure whether Bedford County has the record(s) you seek, please contact the FOIA Officer directly by calling 540-586-7601; by email at foia@bedfordcountyva.gov; by fax at 540-586-0406; or in writing at Bedford County Administration Office, Attn: Brandon Butler, FOIA Officer, 122 E. Main St., Suite 202, Bedford, VA 24523. 

The Code of Virginia allows any public body to withhold certain records from public disclosure. Bedford County commonly withholds records subject to the following exemptions:

• Requests by persons incarcerated in a state, local or federal correctional facility (§2.2-373(C))
• Personnel records (§2.2-3705.1 (1) of the Code of Virginia)
• Records subject to attorney-client privilege (§ 2.2-3705.1 (2)) or attorney work product (§2.2-3705.1 (3))
• Tests or examinations used, administered or prepared for purposes of evaluation of any employee or employment seeker’s qualifications or aptitude for employment, retention, or promotion, or qualifications for any license or certificate (§2.2-3705.1(4))
• Vendor proprietary information (§2.2-3705.1 (6))
• Records relating to the negotiation and award of a contract, prior to a contract being awarded (§2.2-3705.1 (12))
• Plans and information to prevent or respond to terrorist activity, the disclosure of which would jeopardize the safety of any person (§2.2-3706(F)(1))
• Records of criminal investigations (§2.2-3706(A)(2)(a))
• Tax records (§58.1-3)
• Health records (§ 2.2-3705.5(1))
• Appraisals and cost estimates of real property subject to a proposed sale, purchase, or lease (§2.2-3705.1 (8)
• Social service records (§63.2-102 through §63.2-105)

Records requested by individuals who are not citizens of Virginia or representatives of the media (§2.2-3704 (A))
Since exemptions exist in order to protect some compelling public interest (such as privacy of individuals, criminal investigations, or the County’s bargaining position in an on-going negotiation or discussion), it is inevitable that the County will need to rely on exemptions in many cases. For that reason, it is the County’s practice to invoke all exemptions that are applicable to any request for records. This practice ensures that we treat all citizens the same way, to the greatest extent possible.