Public records are compiled by the agencies of North Carolina government or its departments and are the property of the people. It is the policy of the Village of Marvin and the State of North Carolina that the people may obtain copies of their public records free or for a minimal cost unless otherwise specified by law.

How to Submit a Public Records Request

Pursuant to North Carolina General Statute (NCGS) Chapter 132, the Village of Marvin makes available to the public all records in its custody that are defined as “Public Records” under N.C.G.S. §132-1. Any person may request public records by completing the Public Records Request Form and submitting it to the Village Clerk by email, through the contact form linked below, or by mail. Mailed requests should be mailed to: Village of Marvin, 10006 Marvin School Road, Marvin, NC 28173.

• Contact Village Staff

To help us process your request efficiently and accurately, please provide as much detail as possible. Consider including:

• Date Range: Specify the time period you are interested in (e.g., January 2022 – March 2023).
• Keywords or Phrases in Emails: If requesting emails, include terms that may appear in the emails you're looking for (e.g., Efird Park picnic areas).
• Subject Matter: Clearly describe the topic or issue you're requesting records about (e.g., improvements to picnic areas in Efird Park).
• Document Types: Let us know if you are seeking emails, meeting minutes, reports, permits, etc.
• Departments or Individuals: Identify specific departments, boards, board members and/or staff members that may be involved.
• Format Preference: If applicable, indicate whether you'd prefer electronic records, printed copies, or in-person inspection.

Vague or overly broad requests (e.g., “all documents about a project” or “everything from the last year”) may result in the inability to locate all desired records, delays, require clarification, and/or the use of the Village’s IT consultant. IT charges incurred by the Village while fulfilling a record request are then charged to the requester. Being specific helps us help you.

Please see the Village's current Public Record Request Policy for more information, linked below.

If a record request is unclear, overly broad, or expected to take more than four hours to complete, the Clerk’s Office will contact the requester to clarify or revise it. Clarifying the request can reduce costs, conserve Village resources, and speed up the response. Requests likely to exceed four hours are referred to the Village’s IT contract for completion.

If a request is not revised/clarified and/or still exceeds four hours, the Clerk’s Office will provide a cost estimate to the requester. If estimated costs (including copying fees) exceed $25, a 50 percent deposit is required before work begins, with the balance due before records are released. Any overpayment will be refunded.

If a requester does not respond within two weeks of a clarification request, notification of a required deposit, or issuance of the final invoice, the request will be closed.

Pursuant to North Carolina Statute §132-6.2, an agency may charge a special service charge for any request that requires extensive use of information technology or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance by personnel of the agency. The following apply to charges:

• Staff time spent searching for, locating, collecting, sorting, copying and preparing the records to be produced will count towards the four (4) hour threshold. The special service charge shall be in addition to any copying fees.
• Multiple requests within a short period of time from the same individual or organization relating to a similar topic will be considered a single request for purposes of determining whether to charge under this section.
• The special service charge for information technology shall include any separate charge by any third-party information technology vendor.
• Special service charges shall not be greater than the actual costs incurred.
• Time spent separating confidential from non-confidential information shall not be considered in calculating the time it takes to respond to a request.

The current Special Service Charge for the use of the Village's Information Techology vendor is $145/hour.

The Clerk’s Office will process record requests primarily in the order received, unless a later request can be completed without inhibiting the completion of a prior request.

• Printed Copies: The Village charges a reasonable per copy fee of the actual cost to the Village for printed and color copies in accordance with the Village’s Fee Schedule.
• Electronic Copies: Electronic records shall be sent via email or by download link (ex. Google Drive) when possible. Otherwise, electronic records shall be produced on a flash drive (or similar electronic storage device) provided by the Village. The Village shall charge the actual cost of the flash drive, no matter the amount of data stored on it. The Village shall only charge the cost of multiple flash drives if the total gigabytes of the requested files exceed the maximum gigabytes on a single flash drive.

Please carefully review the Village's Public Record Request Policy and the tips provided above to avoid delays or special service charges.

• Public Record Request Policy (Adopted 3/27/25)
• Public Record Request Form