Personnel Rosters
| Submitted | June 12, 2024 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Ben Goehring
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Monthly copies of all employees in the Virginia Department of Corrections from January 1, 2015 to the present. In particular, I am requesting a spreadsheet containing the following variables for each month from January 1, 2015 to May 2024:
- Unique employee ID (this should remain the same for an employee over time)
- First name
- Middle name or initial
- Last Name
- Job title
- Facility/Prison of employment
- Annual Salary
- Original hire date
- Rehire date
- Termination date
- County of employment
- Age
- Gender
- Race
If any of these variables cannot be provided, please only provide the variables that are available. I have experience working with large datasets and can receive the data in whichever format is easiest for you.
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.
Sincerely,
Tom Nash, a citizen of Virginia, in coordination with Ben Goehring.
From: Department of Corrections
"Good afternoon, Mr. Nash.
Would you mind giving me a call about your records request? I met with our human resources department on Friday and we have information back to December 2017. It will take a significant amount of time to pull the records (78 separate reports actually). I’ve worked up an initial cost-estimate but have an idea that I’d like to discuss with you that could significantly reduce the cost.
My direct number is (804) 887-8445 and my cell is (804) 659-3061.
Best,
Colleen
Colleen H. Maxwell
Freedom of Information Act Officer
FOIA & Legal Services Specialist
Virginia Department of Corrections
6900 Atmore Drive
Richmond, VA 23225
Office (804) 887-8445"
From: Department of Corrections
"Dear Mr. Nash:
Thank you for your request for records made in accordance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.) received on June 12, 2024. Please be advised that it is administratively impossible to provide the requested records within the five working days required by FOIA because of the scope of your request. Therefore, we are invoking § 2.2-3704(B)(4) of the Code of Virginia to provide us seven additional working days to respond to your request.
You requested monthly copies of all employees in the Virginia Department of Corrections from January 1, 2015 to the present with 14 data fields. The Virginia Department of Corrections has records dating back to December 2017. Therefore, only 78 months of data available. Records prior to December 2017 do not exist. Pursuant to § 2.2-3704(D) of the Code of Virginia, “no public body shall be required to create a new record if the record does not already exist.”
On Monday, June 17, 2024 I contacted you via email and requested that you call me due to the potential cost of processing your request. At that time, I informed you that I had an idea to reduce the scope of your request and therefore, potentially the cost of providing the responsive records. As I have not heard from you, I am moving forward with the request as it was originally submitted. Please be advised that pursuant to § 2.2-3704.1(6) "a public body may make reasonable charges not to exceed its actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, supplying, or searching for the requested records. No public body shall impose any extraneous, intermediary, or surplus fees or expenses to recoup the general costs associated with creating or maintaining records or transacting the general business of the public body. Any duplicating fee charged by a public body shall not exceed the actual cost of duplication. All charges for the supplying of requested records shall be estimated in advance at the request of the citizen as set forth in subsection F of § 2.2-3704 of the Code of Virginia." You requested that I provide a cost estimate. The estimated cost is $827.18 to fulfill your request. The information you seek is stored electronically and staff will be required to retrieve the information and adapt it to a reportable format. The breakdown of the estimate is as follows.
Tom Nash FOIA Cost Estimate
Task
Time/Hrs
Employee
Hourly Rate
Subtotal
Prepare sheets (78 spreadsheets @ 20 minutes/per sheet)
25.74
Employee 1
$26.91
$692.66
Supervisory Review
2
Employee 2
$56.95
$113.90
Collect and provide responsive records
0.5
Employee 3
$41.24
$20.62
Total:
$827.18
Pursuant to § 2.2-3704(H) of the Code of Virginia, “… where a public body determines in advance that charges for producing the requested records are likely to exceed $200, the public body may, before continuing to process the request, require the requester to pay a deposit not to exceed the amount of the advance determination. The deposit shall be credited toward the final cost of supplying the requested records. The period within which the public body shall respond under this section shall be tolled for the amount of time that elapses between notice of the advance determination and the response of the requester.” Therefore, please remit a deposit payment of $827.18 to the Treasurer of Virginia. Please send your payment to:
Virginia Department of Corrections
Attn: FOIA/Legal Compliance, Suite 3082
P.O. Box 26963
Richmond, VA 23261
Please feel free to call if you would like to discuss this further.
Sincerely,
Colleen H. Maxwell
Freedom of Information Act Officer
FOIA & Legal Services Specialist
Virginia Department of Corrections
6900 Atmore Drive
Richmond, VA 23225
Office (804) 887-8445"