File a request the city has to answer
The Mississippi Public Records Act (Miss. Code Ann. § 25-61-1 et seq.) gives you a right to the City of Jackson's records. You do not have to say why you want them, and in Mississippi you do not have to be a resident. Build the letter below, send it, and start the clock.
The deadline
§ 25-61-5 — the body has seven (7) working days. Write the date you sent it on the letter. A missed deadline is only useful if you can prove when the clock started.
The fees
§ 25-61-7. Ask for an estimate above $25.00 before anything is copied, and ask for electronic delivery — a PDF has no per-page charge to argue about.
If they say no
A denial appeals free to the Mississippi Ethics Commission under § 25-61-13. The Commission can order the record released and impose a civil penalty on the official who wrongfully withheld it. This is the strongest citizen remedy of the three states this Foundation works in, and almost nobody uses it.
Build your letter
This runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type here is sent anywhere, stored, or seen by us — copy the result and send it yourself from your own email.
“All emails about the project” gets refused as overbroad and burns your deadline. “Emails between the City Manager and [named party] between 1 March and 30 April” gets answered. Once you see what came back, ask again with what you learned. Two narrow requests beat one that never gets filled.
Where to send it
Jackson's own records channel is listed on the City Desk, with the exact URL the City publishes. Use it — a request filed through the body's own portal is the hardest one for it to say it never received.
Send a copy to [email protected] at the same time. We log the send date, watch the deadline, and if it lapses we publish that fact. A request nobody knows about is a request the city can ignore quietly.
Track the clock
§ 25-61-5 gives the City seven (7) working days. Put the send date in your calendar with that many days added, and put a second reminder a week later. Most requests are not denied — they are simply never answered, and the only thing that changes that is somebody noticing on the exact day.
If you are refused
A denial appeals free to the Mississippi Ethics Commission under § 25-61-13. The Commission can order the record released and impose a civil penalty on the official who wrongfully withheld it. This is the strongest citizen remedy of the three states this Foundation works in, and almost nobody uses it.
Whatever the outcome, keep the exact wording of the denial and the date. A refusal that cites no statute, or cites one that does not apply, is itself the story — and it is the document an appeal turns on.