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MS4 public records request: Florida DEP

Sent November 2, 2026, from Doug Liles. Recipient: PublicRecordsRequests_Regulatory@FloridaDEP.gov. This is the request text, not an agency response.

Dear Florida DEP Regulatory Public Records Custodian,

Please provide existing electronic records under Florida's public-records law for Walton County's Phase II MS4 program, historically identified as FLR04E084. Please confirm the identifier and any successor identifier from your records.

For coverage, renewal, reporting and regulatory correspondence, the scope is the current and immediately preceding permit cycles through November 2, 2026, including older records still governing present coverage. For operational records specified below, the scope is October 15, 2023 through November 2, 2026, plus any older unresolved items in the current backlog.

  1. The complete current and immediately preceding MS4 coverage/renewal files, including coverage acknowledgments, permit dates, the county's April 2023 Notice of Intent/application, supplements, fees/receipt records, completeness reviews, deficiency requests, determinations and current Stormwater Management Program held by DEP.
  2. Existing records establishing whether and on what basis coverage continued after October 14, 2023. Specifically, correspondence or other records of DEP instructions to continue implementing the Cycle 4 permit while the April 2023 renewal was pending. Walton County Environmental Manager Melinda Gates described that instruction in a June 3, 2025 email to Darrin Dunwald; I seek the DEP source record and any subsequent disposition, without assuming a coverage lapse or violation.
  3. All required MS4 reports received for those cycles, their reporting periods, actual receipt/submission timestamps, transmittals or portal receipts, review responses and existing deadline/frequency determinations, including any notice requiring more frequent reporting. Please include records for 2022–2023, 2023–2024 and subsequent required reporting periods.
  4. DEP compliance evaluations, inspections/audits, deficiency or enforcement correspondence, corrective-action plans and county responses, outstanding-item/status records and written closure/disposition records. Include any older unresolved finding still open as of November 2, 2026.
  5. Existing DEP correspondence with Walton County or South Walton Mosquito Control from January 1, 2025 through November 2, 2026 concerning Walton County MS4 coverage, renewal, reporting, drainage/ditch ownership and maintenance responsibilities, or mosquito-control referrals relevant to MS4 implementation.
  6. Existing facility/permit identifiers and record-index/export information needed to locate the corresponding files in Oculus or other DEP systems, and records identifying the current DEP program contact.

Please route this as one coordinated request to the appropriate NPDES/MS4 program and Northwest District custodians; FDEP/DEP references here denote the same agency.

Please provide existing records in native electronic format where maintained, including existing spreadsheet/GIS exports and field definitions; precise public download links are welcome. No new analysis, legal opinion, spreadsheet, or software development is requested. If a requested record is not maintained or cannot be located, please identify that fact and another custodian if known. For withheld or redacted material, please identify the applicable legal basis and provide reasonably segregable records.

Please acknowledge receipt, assign a tracking number, identify the coordinating custodian, and release readily available coverage/renewal records first, with remaining records in stages. Please provide an itemized estimate before any chargeable work; no fees or paid work are authorized without my written approval. If this overlaps an existing request from me, please identify that request before duplicating work.

I would appreciate a status update within 10 business days. This is a requested management checkpoint, not a claim that Florida law sets a 10-business-day production deadline.

The request and responsive public records will support a sourced public tracker at protect30a.org/ms4.

Thank you,
Doug Liles
Protect30A
doug@goodsam.ai