The OORC is housed within the Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury and receives comments and guidance from a 17 member advisory committee. The OORC provides local governments with information and informal opinions on public records questions. These opinions are available for viewing on the OORC website. Not only are opinions issued by the OORC valuable for the information contained therein, they can also provide a safe harbor for employees who rely on them. If a municipality is sued for violation of the Act, a court may consider guidance provided by the OORC when determining whether a municipality willfully denied a requestor’s public records request.

Additionally, the OORC is available to mediate disputes between local governments and requesting citizens. The OORC also developed several policies and a number of forms, one of which is required to be used and others that may be used by municipalities. The forms and policies are found at Policies, Guidelines & Forms (tn.gov)