Public Records

Below are common types of public records for each meeting. It is not an exhaustive list of all public records.

Meeting Packets

The Open Meetings Act requires that any materials provided to the Board and Planning Commission in their meeting packets be made available to the public at the time of the meeting.

The Board and Planning Commission started posting meeting materials online in the spring of 2026. They are posted on the Board and Commission sites immediately prior to the meetings under the agenda links towards the bottom of the page.

Prior meeting materials are not available online.

• Prior Board materials are available in the Chancery Clerk's office during regular business hours. (See Meeting Archives section below.)

• Prior Planning materials are only available via public records request.

Note that there is no known requirement to make meeting materials public in advance of meetings to allow for review, and there is no practice of doing so.

There is also no known requirement mandating specific contents be included in the meeting materials, and there is little standardization. For zoning-related requests, board packets sometimes include:

• All/parts of the requestor's application

• All/parts of the Planning Department's recommendations

• All/parts of public emails/letters addressed to the County Administrator

• Nothing

Citizens seeking information about zoning-related agenda items, applications, or other materials should contact the County Administrator in advance of the meeting. The county has seven days to respond to a public records request, as mandated by the Public Records Act.

Meeting Minutes

The Open Meetings Act requires that the Board and Planning Commission make meeting minutes available to the public within 30 days of each meeting.

• The Board of Supervisors publishes its meeting minutes online.

• The Planning Commission does not publish its meeting minutes.

The Board minutes are a combination of voting records and select attachments, included at the discretion of the County Administrator. There is no practice of summarizing discussion or decision-making rationale. There is no practice of including materials introduced during the meetings (e.g. letters of support or objection, petitions, new applicant-provided materials, etc.).

The contents of meeting minutes are governed by the Mississippi Code and Open Meetings Act.

Meeting Archives

The Chancery Clerk's office stores an archived file for prior Board of Supervisors meetings. It does not store archives for the Planning Commission.

These files include a combination of meeting materials, meeting minutes (i.e. attendance and voting records), and occasionally other miscellaneous materials (e.g. contemporaneous handwritten notes).

Mississippi Supreme Court Precedent

“However inconvenient openness may be to some, it is the legislatively decreed public policy of this state.” Mayor & Aldermen of Vicksburg v. Vicksburg Printing & Pub., 434 So.2d 1333, 1336 (Miss.1983).