Public records requests — Palm Bay, Florida

A Palm Bay public records request goes to the Office of the City Clerk and can be filed online, by phone, in person, by mail or by email (City of Palm Bay City Clerk).

The City Clerk page names the online portal, powered by GovQA, as the easiest way to ask for a Palm Bay record. A requester can open a GovQA account to track the request and receive the records through it, or submit anonymously (City of Palm Bay City Clerk).

For anything the portal does not settle, the Office of the City Clerk takes questions at (321) 952-3414 (City Clerk), and the city's general contact listing on the same page is 120 Malabar Road, Palm Bay, FL 32907, (321) 952-3400.

The Palm Bay City Clerk is a Charter officer appointed by and reporting directly to the City Council, and the office oversees the city-wide records management program for the retention, disposal and preservation of public records (City of Palm Bay City Clerk office). Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the City of Palm Bay City Clerk and police records webpages.

The Palm Bay Police Department's published records fee schedule charges $0.15 per single-sided page with the first 10 pages free, $1.00 per certified page, and $15.00 per hour of extensive use once a request takes longer than 30 minutes (Palm Bay Police Department records page).

The Palm Bay police schedule sits inside the ceilings Florida sets. Section 119.07(4) allows up to 15 cents per one-sided copy, no more than an additional 5 cents for a two-sided copy, and up to $1 per certified copy (F.S. 119.07), and the Palm Bay double-sided rate is 5 cents above its single-sided rate. The same subsection lets an agency add a reasonable special service charge when a request needs extensive use of information technology or extensive clerical or supervisory help, based on the labor or technology cost actually incurred; the Palm Bay police schedule sets its extensive use charge at $15.00 per hour.

The Police Department may ask for a deposit when a request is expected to involve extensive use, and the requester receives an itemized invoice (Palm Bay records fee schedule). Payment is made in person at the Palm Bay Utilities Department on the first floor of City Hall Building A, or mailed to 130 Malabar Rd SE, Palm Bay, FL 32907, marked ATTN: Records. Florida defines the actual cost of duplication as the material and supplies used, not labor or overhead (F.S. 119.011).

Palm Bay public records requests start with the Office of the City Clerk, which takes request questions at (321) 952-3414 (City of Palm Bay City Clerk).

The City Clerk's Office manages the Palm Bay City Council's business records and actions: it runs the agenda process, prepares Council minutes, codifies ordinances, and coordinates municipal elections with the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections, qualifying candidates (City Clerk duties). Council meetings are also televised on the government channel and streamed as audio on the city website, so a meeting record often exists in more than one format.

The Palm Bay Police Department runs its own records lobby window, open Monday to Friday 8AM to 4PM excluding holidays, and its page states that all records are released in accordance with Chapter 119, with items that are not releasable redacted within the response (Palm Bay Police Department records page). That page is the source of the fee schedule above.

The Palm Bay Building department software maintains copies of all floodplain reviews with FEMA Elevation Certificates issued since 1993, and copies of FEMA Letters of Map Amendment and Revision are also available (Palm Bay Flood Information). Elevation Certificates are on file at the city for homes built after 1993 that were required to have a Floodplain Permit.

Lien searches are a separate product: since March 1, 2022, Palm Bay has used Orange Data for lien searches at $60.00 each, through an Orange Data account rather than the GovQA portal (City Clerk).

Florida law requires Palm Bay to let any person inspect and copy a public record at a reasonable time and under reasonable conditions, to acknowledge the request promptly and to respond in good faith (Florida Statutes section 119.07).

The right starts in the Florida Constitution. Article I, section 24 gives every person the right to inspect or copy any public record made or received in connection with official business, and it names counties, municipalities and districts among the bodies it covers (Florida Constitution, Art. I, s. 24). Palm Bay, as a municipality, is covered, and so are boards and commissions.

Chapter 119 defines the material broadly. Public records include documents, papers, letters, maps, books, tapes, photographs, films, sound recordings, data processing software or other material, regardless of physical form, made or received in connection with official business (F.S. 119.011). The definition of agency reaches every municipal officer, department, board or commission and any public or private agency, person, partnership, corporation or business entity acting on behalf of any public agency, which takes in Palm Bay's own departments, boards and commissions.

When the City of Palm Bay withholds part of a record, section 119.07 requires it to redact only the exempt portion and produce the remainder, to state the basis of the exemption with its statutory citation, and, if the requester asks, to explain in writing and with particularity why the record is exempt or confidential (F.S. 119.07). Under section 119.07, a good faith response includes reasonable efforts to find out from other officers or employees within the agency whether the record exists and where it can be accessed.

Palm Bay Planning and Zoning Board agendas and minutes, and those of other city authorities, boards and committees, are published online through PrimeGov, with items not on PrimeGov still on the older NovusAgenda platform (City of Palm Bay Planning and Zoning Board page).

The Planning and Zoning Board page links its PrimeGov agendas and minutes along with those of the other Palm Bay authorities, boards and committees, and notes that items not yet on PrimeGov can be viewed on NovusAgenda (Palm Bay Planning and Zoning Board). The Office of the City Clerk also codifies Palm Bay ordinances into the Code of Ordinances and coordinates the televising of regular council meetings (City Clerk duties).

Records of the Brevard County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller are requested from the Clerk, not from Palm Bay, and the Clerk runs a Palm Bay Office at 450 Cogan Drive SE (Brevard County Clerk).

The Clerk accepts its own public records requests online at brevardcountyclerkfl.nextrequest.com, by email to PublicRecordsRequests@brevardclerk.us, by phone at (321) 637-2004, by mail to a Titusville post office box, and in person at its offices, including the Palm Bay Office at 450 Cogan Drive SE, Palm Bay, FL 32909, which closes daily from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm (Brevard County Clerk of Court). The Clerk states that its request portal is for Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller records only.

The split follows section 119.011, which defines the custodian of public records as the elected or appointed state, county or municipal officer responsible for maintaining the office having those records (F.S. 119.011). Palm Bay City Hall holds records made by city departments, boards and the Palm Bay City Council; Brevard County constitutional officers hold their own.