Mask Mandates (Office of the Governor - Iowa)

Emma North-Best filed this request with the Office of the Governor - Iowa of Iowa.
Multi Request Mask Mandates
Est. Completion None
Status
Withdrawn

Communications

From: Emma North-Best

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Iowa Open Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

Emails, memos, letters, documents and other records discussing or mentioning implemented or proposed mask mandate policies, as well as discussions regarding their expiration or termination between January 1, 2020 and the present.

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.

As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Emma North-Best

From: Office of the Governor - Iowa

Emma,

Thank you for contacting the Governor’s Office. It is our understanding you are seeking all communications, including emails, memos, and any other documents regarding implementation or termination of mask mandates from January 1, 2020 to August 25, 2021.

Based on that understanding, we directed our technology office to search the emails of our staff for emails with the terms “mask mandate” during the time period identified. The result returned 10,803 emails.

Our office provides three free hours of staff review time and ten pages in hard copy without charge. Beyond that, our office charges $33 per hour for additional staff review time and ten cents per additional hard copy page. Based on our records-charging policy, a review of these emails would result in a cost to you of approximately $5,017. Of course, actual review time may vary significantly. You would only be charged for the actual cost, and we would confirm with you again before undertaking review in excess of this estimate.

Alternatively, to cut down on review time, we can run another search of emails using different search terms, a narrower time frame, or identified email accounts of staff at the Governor's Office.

Please let me know your thoughts on a second search of emails. Or if you agree to pay the charges for this request, please confirm and we will then proceed with processing your request.

Thank you,

Angela

From: Office of the Governor - Iowa

Ms. North-Best,

I am just following up again, after my email of June 7 seeking to clarify terms to conduct a search for your request. Please be advised that if I do not hear back from you within 30 days, we will consider your request abandoned and closed. Thank you!

Kind Regards,
Angela

From: Office of the Governor - Iowa

Ms. North-Best,

As it has been over 30 days without further clarification from you, please see the attached closure letter.

Thank you,
Angela Stuedemann

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