MCSO Records Request

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

1) A copy of the department's salaries of all individuals employed by the MCSO for FY2019 and FY2020. Please include any database fields that include compensation breakdowns, including base salary, benefits, retirement. If the data is in a database where it's easy to export, I'm particularly interested in a breakdown that includes the following, as an example:
Employee name: FY2019 - $55,000 salary + $12,000 federal tax + $4,000 health/dental/vision + $3,000 401k contribution = gross cost $74,000 per year.

If a raise or promotion was given in 2019 or 2020 causing a salary increase, include all personnel commendation and disciplinary records that led to the promotion/raise for each individual.

If the data is stored in another way, please let me know; I'm willing to discuss modifying my request.

2) All emails sent to and received by Mr. Partin from 1/1/2020 until 3/1/2020.

3) Any letters or other actions that would have triggered the compilation, gathering, or release of any of the above material for any reason in the past. For example, copies of other records request letters for the above or a copy of any audits that involved compiling the above material.

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 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Please note that I am a citizen of Virginia, and am using MuckRock's services to help manage and track my request.

Sincerely,

Tom Nash

RE: Line item 2

I'd like to issue a correction for line item 2. I meant to request, "all emails sent by and received by Mr. Partin from 1/1/2020 until 3/1/2020." Basically, everything in the inbox, outbox, and trash (including deleted emails).

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

1) A copy of the department's salaries of all individuals employed by the MCSO for FY2019 and FY2020. Please include any database fields that include compensation breakdowns, including base salary, benefits, retirement. If the data is in a database where it's easy to export, I'm particularly interested in a breakdown that includes the following, as an example:
Employee name: FY2019 - $55,000 salary + $12,000 federal tax + $4,000 health/dental/vision + $3,000 401k contribution = gross cost $74,000 per year.

If a raise or promotion was given in 2019 or 2020 causing a salary increase, include all personnel commendation and disciplinary records that led to the promotion/raise for each individual.

If the data is stored in another way, please let me know; I'm willing to discuss modifying my request.

2) All emails sent by and received by Mr. Partin from 1/1/2020 until 3/1/2020. This includes everything in the inbox, outbox, and trash (including deleted emails).

3) Any letters or other actions that would have triggered the compilation, gathering, or release of any of the above material for any reason in the past. For example, copies of other records request letters for the above or a copy of any audits that involved compiling the above material.

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 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Please note that I am a citizen of Virginia, and am using MuckRock's services to help manage and track my request.

Sincerely,

Tom Nash

Hi Brian,

We will provide you with proof of residency as required under VA law shortly. Let's keep it simple and start with records from item #3 that have already been disseminated and cleared for release.

Yes sir, that would be great. Whatever we can do to avoid duplication of effort and accommodate making this process easier to process the better. I have contacted MuckRock, so they should be in the process of providing proof of residency, appreciate your patience!

Have a great weekend

Hi there,

Thank you for your help with this request! Attached is Tom Nash's proof of residency in case there is still a need for it.

Sincerely,
MuckRock

[attachment redacted]

Mr. Wright,

Please consider line item #1 complete. Line items #2 and #3 requested ~1.5 years ago remain to complete this request. If possible, I'd like to request you start with line item #3 to avoid duplication of efforts where work may have been already completed. If you have a high level spreadsheet of all FOIA requests fulfilled for 2020, I will assist in locating records I am seeking.

Mr. Wright,

Please consider line item #1 complete. Line items #2 and #3 requested ~1.5 years ago remain to complete this request. If possible, I'd like to request you start with line item #3 to avoid duplication of efforts where work may have been already completed. If you have a high level spreadsheet of all FOIA requests fulfilled for 2020, I will assist in locating records I am seeking.

Hi Brian,

Please allow me first to apologize for not getting back to you sooner. I appreciate your diligence in following up on this request.

Would it be fair to say that MCSO has no method of documenting, organizing, and storing FOIA requests? Maybe a method for ensuring compliance exists that results in some sort of spreadsheet of documentation? I ask not to complicate the process, but to take the time to identify specific records that have been previously compiled and cleared for release to save time for both you, me, and the tax payer.

Further, when you search for records, I assume it is via a query (i.e. a keyword or search word?). Are you able to provide me with some quantification of the records at hand for say, email to/from Mr. Partin including those in the email "trash folder," "deleted folder," and "archive folder?" Please bare with me here as I try to better understand the software you use to comply with records requests. I've found that most agencies use Microsoft's software suite which contains tools to help in fulfilling these requests.

Once I better understand how this process works on your end, I will gladly provide what I'd consider a "pointed" request in the interest of saving both of us time.

Take care -

Brian,

Let's start with all emails sent or received by Mr. Partin from 2/3/20 through 2/14/20 with "wrightbd@vamcso.org" (or your work email address if I have misspelled it) included in any section of the email (i.e. to/from, subject line, body of the email, etc.). This should significantly narrow down the request and take IT no longer than a few seconds, once logged in, to query and provide an approximate number of "hits."

Thanks Brian, I appreciate your expedient response. I just have one more question, more of a verification really, before I take a few days to review and make a decision on closing this request.

To the best of your knowledge, the records (in this case the plain text emails) are all encompassing based on the keywords I've provided and no emails have been redacted, removed, or otherwise been exempted from the ".pdf" file you provided? If they have, I understand there are exemptions that exist, I would like to know approximately how many have been withheld.

Almost to the weekend, have a good one!

Apologies for the double email. It took me less time to review than I anticipated. First, I want to clarify that when I spoke to redactions and exemptions in my prior comment, I'm mostly asking if any content was redacted. As an example, the "to:" line was redacted and that is of no interest to me for this request - just want to make sure no emails were left out due to them being exempted/redacted or not being looked for in something like the trash folder.

For my final request, please provide the entire email chain for the email that was initiated on 2020-2-10 at 12:36 titled "Request for information." I suppose using the keyword "request for information" within the dates 2/1/20 to present would suffice. If the way I spelled it returns no results (these searches are wonky at times) please do your best to modify it until it fits the request and the entire email chain is included. If you have any questions or require clarification please feel free to reach out.

Take care -

Thank you Brian, this request is complete. I appreciate you taking the time to clarify the process you follow when searching for records and exempting them as necessary. Your professionalism is appreciated.

Take care