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A TRUE COPY <br />CERTIFICATION ON LAST PAGE <br />RYAN L. BUTLER, CLERK <br />the Florida Auditor General, or any of their authorized representatives, shall enjoy the right of access to any <br />documents, financial statements, papers, or other records of the Recipient which are pertinent to this <br />Agreement, in order to make audits, examinations, excerpts, and transcripts. The right of access also includes <br />timely and reasonable access to the Recipient's personnel for the purpose of interview and discussion related to <br />such documents. For the purposes of this section, the term "Recipient" includes employees or agents, including <br />all subcontractors or consultants to be paid from funds provided under this Agreement. <br />b. The Recipient shall maintain all records related to this Agreement for the period of time <br />specified in the appropriate retention schedule published by the Florida Department of State. Information <br />regarding retention schedules can be obtained at: http://dos.myflorida.com/library-archives/records- <br />managemenUgeneral-records-schedu les/. <br />c. Florida's Government in the Sunshine Law (Section 286.011, Florida Statutes) provides the <br />citizens of Florida with a right of access to governmental proceedings and mandates three (3) basic <br />requirements: (1) all meetings of public boards or commissions must be open to the public; (2) reasonable <br />notice of such meetings must be given; and, (3) minutes of the meetings must be taken and promptly recorded. <br />The mere receipt of public funds by a private entity, standing alone, is insufficient to bring that entity within the <br />ambit of the open government requirements. However, the Government in the Sunshine Law applies to private <br />entities that provide services to governmental agencies and that act on behalf of those agencies in the agencies' <br />performance of their public duties. If a public agency delegates the performance of its public purpose to a <br />private entity, then, to the extent that private entity is performing that public purpose, the Government in the <br />Sunshine Law applies. For example, if a volunteer fire department provides firefighting services to a <br />governmental entity and uses facilities and equipment purchased with public funds, then the Government in the <br />Sunshine Law applies to the board of directors for that volunteer fire department. Thus, to the extent that the <br />Government in the Sunshine Law applies to the Recipient based upon the funds provided under this Agreement, <br />the meetings of the Recipient's governing board or the meetings of any subcommittee making recommendations <br />to the governing board may be subject to open government requirements. These meetings shall be publicly <br />noticed, open to the public, and the minutes of all the meetings shall be public records, available to the public in <br />accordance with chapter 119, Florida Statutes. <br />d. Florida's Public Records Law provides a right of access to the records of the State and local <br />governments as well as to private entities acting on their behalf. Unless specifically exempted from disclosure by <br />the Legislature, all materials made or received by a governmental agency (or a private entity acting on behalf of <br />such an agency) in conjunction with official business which are used to perpetuate, communicate, or formalize <br />knowledge qualify as public records subject to public inspection. The mere receipt of public funds by a private <br />entity, standing alone, is insufficient to bring that entity within the ambit of the public record requirements. <br />However, when a public entity delegates a public function to a private entity, the records generated by the <br />private entity's performance of that duty become public records. Thus, the nature and scope of the services <br />provided by a private entity determine whether that entity is acting on behalf of a public agency and is therefore <br />subject to the requirements of Florida's Public Records Law. <br />4 <br />