Graham, 070105 MSAGO, AGO 2005-291

• Case Date: July 01, 2005
• Court: Mississippi

Tyson Graham, Esq. AGO 2005-291 No. 2005-0291 Mississippi Attorney General Opinions July 1, 2005          Tyson Graham, Esq.          Law Offices of Graham & Segrest, LLP          407 Seventh Street North          Columbus, Mississippi 39703          RE: Appraisal Records/Public Access                    Dr. Mr. Graham:          Attorney General Hood has received your letter of request and assigned me the task of researching and replying to your inquiry. Your letter states in pertinent part:

         The Lowdes County Board of Supervisors enacted Airport Zoning around Columbus Air Force Base. Certain property owners filed suit claiming that the zoning constituted a “taking” of their property and that they were entitled to damages as a result of the taking…. During the course of the proceedings, the Board hired a local appraiser who worked with the attorneys for the Board to examine the ordinance and the affected tracts to determine if, in his opinion, the ordinance constituted a “taking” of the landowners' property. Unfortunately, before the appraisals were completed, the appraiser went to work for a bank in Tupelo, MS, and a part of his employment with the bank required him to work exclusively for the bank and the appraiser withdrew from this assignment. This was approximately four months before trial. The county then hired another appraiser from Meridian and the case went to trial. The landowner's made no attempt to discover the opinion or records of the first appraiser at any time during the trial process. The time for appeal has expired. One of the landowners has now requested all records of the first appraiser from the board under Section 25-61-1, et seq of the MCA . All of the records are in possession of the appraiser, who, we are told by the appraiser, must keep the records for 5 years.          Question: Are those records from the first appraiser exempt from the provisions of thePublic Access to

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