Pennsylvania Right To Know Law

PUBLIC RECORDS ACCESS

Pursuant to the Right-To-Know Law, (Act 3 of 2008) (the “Act”), municipalities are required to make available for public inspection records which meet the generally outlined qualifications set forth in the Act. For more information regarding the Act, please contact the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Open Records at the Commonwealth Keystone Building, 400 North Street, Plaza Level, Harrisburg, PA 17120-0225, (717) 346-9903. They can also be reached at the following website http://openrecords.state.pa.us.

Requests for public records can be made by completing and submitting the City’s Public Records Request Form.

The City of Lancaster will also accept the forms supplied for making such requests by the Commonwealth Office of Public Records. All such requests should be submitted to the City of Lancaster’s Open Records Officer, the Business Administrator, by mail to 120 North Duke Street, Lancaster, PA 17608-1599, by fax at (717) 291-4722 or by e-mail to Openrecords@cityoflancasterpa.com. The City will reply to your request in the manner required by the Act. If you have questions about open records, you may contact the City’s Open Records Officer at (717) 291-3556.

If your request is denied and relates to public records other than records relating to criminal investigations, appeals should be submitted to Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Office of Open Records, Commonwealth Keystone Building, 400 North Street, 4th Floor, Harrisburg, PA 17120-0225. These appeals will be heard by officers of the Office of Public Records.

If your request is denied and relates to records regarding criminal investigations, appeals should be submitted to Lancaster County District Attorney’s Right to Know Appeals Officer, Attorney Christopher P Larsen, Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office, 50 North Duke Street, PO Box 83480, Lancaster, PA 17608-3480.

All appeals must be in writing, must state the grounds upon which the requestor asserts that the requested records is a public record and must address any grounds stated by the City for delaying or denying the request. All appeals must be filed within 15 business days of the mailing date of the City of Lancaster’s notice of denial or a deemed denial as defined in the Act. All appeals will be handled in accordance with the Act.