New Leaf Apartments and Units, Owner The City of Covington
| Submitted | Oct. 30, 2022 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Linda Ridden
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Georgia Open Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
The Records are to be released under the Georgia Open Records Act. Georgia Open records law gives the public the right to see, inspect and copy all "public records." Any citizen of the state can request public records and requesters do not have to state a purpose. Once they have been obtained, there is no restriction on how records can be used, and agencies have three days to supply a response.
RELATIVE meaning, an individual who is related to an employee as a father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, grandchild, grandparent, father-in-law, mother-in law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister, or legal guardian.
Under the Georgia Open Records Act make available records as expressed underneath A through C:
A. New Leaf Apartment Homes 6147 Avery Street
i. Disclosure of Waiting List for New Leaf Apartment Homes located at 6147 Avery Street, Covington, Georgia
ii. Disclosure of Up-to-date present record of Covington Housing Authority employees dwelling and living at New Leaf Apartment Homes 6147Avery Street Covington, Georgia
B. Disclose list of past and present employees who hold personal relationships, close friendships or through affiliation of the New Leaf Vision Workforce Development, or the City of Covington, with persons who received an appointment to some extent a position or business venture internally at the Covington Housing Authority or with its affiliates.
C. Covington Housing Authority, qPublic.net Owner the City of Covington
i. (a.) Disclosure of listing of present employees and employment titles working at 5160 Alcovy Road combined with 6147 Avery Street
i. (b.) Disclosure of listing of present employees and their highest level of education completed producing a high diploma, GED, academic degree, undergraduate, baccalaureate, graduate degree, advanced degree, and vocational technical school certificate of completion and so forth.
Deadline not to surpass the weekday of Monday, 2022-November-07.
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 3 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Linda Ridden
From: Linda Ridden
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Georgia Open Records Act, your agency have three days to supply a response.
The Records are to be released under the Georgia Open Records Act. Georgia Open records law gives the public the
right to see, inspect and copy all "public records." Any citizen of the state can request public records and requesters
do not have to state a purpose. Once they have been obtained, there is no restriction on how records can be used,
and agencies have three days to supply a response.
From: Muckrock Staff
Hello,
We have cc'd Housing@covha.com for full visibility of this request.
Sincerely,
MuckRock
From: Covington Housing Authority
Payment is required for information requested in section C.i.b only. All other sections have responses and any applicable attachments below.
i. Disclosure of Waiting List for New Leaf Apartment Homes located at 6147 Avery Street, Covington, Georgia
New Leaf does not have a document that is called a “Waiting List”. New Leaf does maintain a “Notification List” of potential tenants who have expressed an interest in the affordable housing options offered at New Leaf and requested notification if/when there is a vacancy at New Leaf. Please advise with a new request if you would like this document. However, as said document may contain personal information on potential tenants of a public housing authority, some or all of the information on the list may be protected from disclosure by state and federal law exceptions to the Freedom of Information Act and Georgia Open Records Act.
ii. Disclosure of Up-to-date present record of Covington Housing Authority employees dwelling and living at New Leaf Apartment Homes 6147Avery Street Covington,
Such record cannot be produced as it requests a public employee’s home address which is protected from disclosure by O.C.G.A. Sec. 50-18-72(a)(21).
Georgia OCGA Sec. 50-18-72(a)
“Public disclosure shall not be required for records that are:
* * *
(21) Records concerning public employees that reveal the public employee’s home address, home telephone number, personal mobile or wireless telephone number, day and month of birth, social security number, insurance information, medical information, mother’s birth name, credit card information, debit card information, bank account information, account number, utility account number, password used to access his or her account, financial data and information other than compensation by a government agency, unlisted telephone number if so designated in a public record, and the identity of the public employee’s immediate family members or dependents. This paragraph shall not apply to public records that do not specifically identify public employees or their jobs, titles, or offices. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘public employee’ means any officer, employee, or former employee of:
(A) The State of Georgia or its agencies, departments, or commissions;
(B) Any county or municipality or its agencies, departments, or commissions;
(C) Other political subdivisions of this state;
(D) Teachers in public and charter schools and nonpublic schools;
(E) Early care and education programs administered through the Department of Early Care and Learning; or
(F) The federal government or its agencies, departments, or commissions;”
B. Disclose list of past and present employees who hold personal relationships, close friendships or through affiliation of the New Leaf Vision Workforce Development, or the City of Covington, with persons who received an appointment to some extent a position or business venture internally at the Covington Housing Authority or with its affiliates.
To the extent that this request asks for personal information on family members or dependents of employees of the Housing Authority of the City of Covington, disclosure is prohibited by O.C.G.A. Sec. 50-18-72(a)(21). Beyond any information prohibited from disclosure by this statute, no such existing record in the form of a list currently exists. By way of further explanation, the Housing Authority does not maintain records on the “personal relationships” and “close friendships” of its employees. The only appointments for the Housing Authority of the City of Covington are for Board of Commissioners members, who are prohibited by law from being employees of the City of Covington O.C.G.A. Sec. 8-3-50(d) and by conflict of interests rules from being employees of the Housing Authority. Additionally, the Housing Authority of the City of Covington does not have any active “affiliates” as that term is defined in Salinas v. Atlanta Gas Light Company, 347 Ga. App. 480 (2018).
C. Covington Housing Authority, qPublic.net Owner the City of Covington
i. (a.) Disclosure of listing of present employees and employment titles working at 5160 Alcovy Road combined with 6147 Avery Street
See attached. Information redacted according to:
Georgia OCGA Sec. 50-18-72(a)
“Public disclosure shall not be required for records that are:
* * *
(21) Records concerning public employees that reveal the public employee’s home address, home telephone number, personal mobile or wireless telephone number, day and month of birth, social security number, insurance information, medical information, mother’s birth name, credit card information, debit card information, bank account information, account number, utility account number, password used to access his or her account, financial data and information other than compensation by a government agency, unlisted telephone number if so designated in a public record, and the identity of the public employee’s immediate family members or dependents. This paragraph shall not apply to public records that do not specifically identify public employees or their jobs, titles, or offices. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘public employee’ means any officer, employee, or former employee of:
(A) The State of Georgia or its agencies, departments, or commissions;
(B) Any county or municipality or its agencies, departments, or commissions;
(C) Other political subdivisions of this state;
(D) Teachers in public and charter schools and nonpublic schools;
(E) Early care and education programs administered through the Department of Early Care and Learning; or
(F) The federal government or its agencies, departments, or commissions;”
i. (b.) Disclosure of listing of present employees and their highest level of education completed producing a high diploma, GED, academic degree, undergraduate, baccalaureate, graduate degree, advanced degree, and vocational technical school certificate of completion and so forth.
No such record in the form of a listing with the requested information currently exists. However, it is possible to produce records from which the requestor can pull the information requested. Producing these records will require going thru employee files and redacting personal employee information that is prohibited from disclosure by O.C.G.A. Sec. 50-18-72(a)(21). This will take a minimum of 2 hours at a rate of $33.65/hour. Please advise if you would like to proceed. Payments can be made in the form of a check or money order to Covington Housing Authority, 5160 Alcovy Road, Covington, GA 30014.
Georgia OCGA Sec. 50-18-72(a)
“Public disclosure shall not be required for records that are:
* * *
(21) Records concerning public employees that reveal the public employee’s home address, home telephone number, personal mobile or wireless telephone number, day and month of birth, social security number, insurance information, medical information, mother’s birth name, credit card information, debit card information, bank account information, account number, utility account number, password used to access his or her account, financial data and information other than compensation by a government agency, unlisted telephone number if so designated in a public record, and the identity of the public employee’s immediate family members or dependents. This paragraph shall not apply to public records that do not specifically identify public employees or their jobs, titles, or offices. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘public employee’ means any officer, employee, or former employee of:
(A) The State of Georgia or its agencies, departments, or commissions;
(B) Any county or municipality or its agencies, departments, or commissions;
(C) Other political subdivisions of this state;
(D) Teachers in public and charter schools and nonpublic schools;
(E) Early care and education programs administered through the Department of Early Care and Learning; or
(F) The federal government or its agencies, departments, or commissions;”
From: Linda Ridden
To Whom It May Concern:
Please find enclosed a check for $67.30 to satisfy the fee associated with the attached public records request.
Thank you.
Covington Housing Authority
ORA Office
5160 Alcovy Road
Covington, GA 30014
From: Linda Ridden
The fee has been paid, the records need to be released immediately please.
From: Covington Housing Authority
i. (b.) Disclosure of listing of present employees and their highest level of education completed producing a high diploma, GED, academic degree, undergraduate, baccalaureate, graduate degree, advanced degree, and vocational technical school certificate of completion and so forth.
REPLY: Records of employee education information are attached
From: Linda Ridden
The records did not disclose all the the employees, a employees including Ashley Derricho.
i. (b.) Disclosure of listing of present employees and their highest level of education completed producing a high diploma, GED, academic degree, undergraduate, baccalaureate, graduate degree, advanced degree, and vocational technical school certificate of completion and so forth.
REPLY: Records of employee education information are attached
From: Linda Ridden
Not all records were released on all employees. One employee’s education was not included. This is in violation of the state’s open records act. Released the employee, Ashley Derricho, education and highest level of education.
Linda
From: Covington Housing Authority
An open records request requires the sharing of records that are already in existence. It does not require the creation of records that do not currently exist. The response you received included the records available related to "Disclosure of listing of present employees and their highest level of education completed producing a high diploma, GED, academic degree, undergraduate, baccalaureate, graduate degree, advanced degree, and vocational technical school certificate of completion and so forth." We are in full compliance of the Georgia's Open Records Act.
No such record exists for any employees not included in the previous response. This request is complete.
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