Right To Know
Open Records Officer
The County hereby designates Jennifer Cochran as the County Open Records Officer.
The Open Records Officer may be reached at: 118 Main Street, Wellsboro PA 16901, by telephone at (570) 723-8193, by fax (570) 723-8206, or e-mail at jcochran@tiogacountypa.us
General
All documents deemed public records shall be available for inspection, retrieval and duplication at the Tioga County Courthouse during established business hours 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with the exception of weekends and holidays.
- If you are requesting Excess Funds List/ Tax Sales Overages – Per the Assessment/Tax Claim office: Tioga County does not maintain a list of excess or unclaimed funds and there is no way to compile one. Per the law section 65 P.S. § 67.75: When responding to a request for access, an agency shall not be required to create a record which does not currently exist or to compile, maintain, format or organize a record in a manner in which the agency does not currently compile, maintain, format or organize the record. For this reason, your request would be denied.
- If you are requesting Environmental Information Including but not limited to Code Enforcement Violations, Building Permits, Storage Tanks, Hazardous Spills, etc., Tioga County Courthouse does not have this information. You will need to contact the Municipality of the address you are searching or contact the Department of Environmental Protection. All requests for this information will be denied as we do not have this information.
Requests
Requests shall be made in writing to the County Open Records Officer on a form provided by the County.
Fees
Paper copies shall be 25 cents per page per side. The certification of a record is $1.00 per record. Specialized documents including, but not limited to blue prints, color copies and non-standard sized documents shall be charged the actual cost of production. If mailing is requested, the cost of postage will be charged. The County shall require prepayment for all requests.
Response
The County shall make a good-faith effort to provide the requested public record(s) as promptly as possible. The Open Records Officer shall cooperate with those requesting records to review and/or duplicate original county documents while taking reasonable measure to protect county documents from the possibility of theft, damage, and/or modification.
The Open Records Officer shall review all written requests for access to public records. As soon as possible, but no later than 5 (five) business days after receiving a written request to access public records, the Open Records Officer shall respond to such requests in writing consistent with Act 3 of 2008, the Right-to-Know Law.
If access to a record is denied, the response shall include a reason for denial as stipulated in Act 3 of 2008, the
Right-to-Know Law.
Contact Information for Appeals
If a written request is denied or deemed denied, the requester may file an appeal in writing to Terry Mutchler, Executive Director, Office of Open Records, Commonwealth Keystone Building 400 North Street, Plaza Level Harrisburg, PA 17120-0225
Appeals Process
The appeal shall be filed within 15 business days of the mailing date of the county’s response or within 15 business days of a deemed denial. The appeal shall state the grounds upon which the requester asserts the records is a public record and shall address any grounds stated by the county for delaying or denying the request.
Links & Forms
Room Rental Excise Tax Amendment