Anoka County, dba Midwest Medical Examiner's Office, county contracts, budgets, expenditures
| Submitted | May 27, 2022 |
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Communications
From: Derek Kravitz
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Minnesota Data Practices Act § 13.01 et seq., we request the following records:
— All previous and current Anoka County Contracts for Medical Examiner Services, e.g. Anoka County Contract No. C0007170 with the County of Wright, along with any terminations of contracts. Written notice of termination of Medical Examiner Services Contracts, by either the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office or the contracted party.
— The two most recent FY or annual budget and expenditure reports for the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office.
As background, Anoka County, dba Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office, has provided medical examiner services to at least 29 Minnesota counties including, but not limited to: Anoka, Beltrami, Benton, Big Stone, Carlton, Carver, Chippewa, Chisago, Cook, Douglas, Isanti, Kandiyohi, Lake, McLeod, Meeker, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, Renville, Rice, St. Louis, Sherburne, Sibley, Stearns, Swift, Todd, Wadena, Wright and Yellow Medicine, and at least 5 Wisconsin counties, including but not limited to: Barron and Polk.
This request is not being made for commercial purposes. In the event that there are fees, we would appreciate if you would inform us of the total charges in advance of fulfilling our request. We would prefer the request filled electronically, by email attachment.
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.
Sincerely,
Derek Kravitz
From: Derek Kravitz
Hi, we just wanted to check on the status of this request. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly at 573-239-7440. Thanks and best, Derek
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
Good afternoon:
I am an Assistant Anoka County Attorney and I represent the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office. We received your data request but before we respond, I will need some additional clarification.
Are you asking for copies of all the contracts for the medical examiner’s office, or only those with Wright County?
Are you asking for the full budget for the medical examiner’s office, or only in relation to Wright County?
Please clarify.
How do you wish to receive the data? Depending upon the breadth of your request, there may be a fee for the retrieval and provision. Inspection of the documents is free, however if you are requesting copies, there may be a fee. The County charges $.25 per page up to 100 pages. If the request exceeds 100 pages, we charge the actual cost of retrieval, compilation and providing that data to you, including the cost of the device (if needed). For electronic copies we charge the cost of retrieval, compilation and provision of the documents to you.
Once we have clarification of your request, we will begin compiling the documents.
Thank you.
Nancy Norman Sommer
Assistant Anoka County Attorney
Anoka County Attorney’s Office
763-324-5411
Preferred pronouns: she/her/hers
Nancy.Norman@co.anoka.mn.us<mailto:Nancy.Norman@co.anoka.mn.us>
anokacounty.us/attorney<http://www.anokacounty.us/attorney>
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From: Derek Kravitz
To clarify the request:
— We are requesting copies of all current and previous contracts with county agencies;
— We are requesting a copy of the most recent, full office budget and expenditures.
Let me know if you have any additional questions and thank you,
Derek
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
Thank you.
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
One more thing, how far back do you want to go on the Medical Examiner Services contracts?
From: Derek Kravitz
If 10 years is easily obtainable and not voluminous, that would be great. Based on the Wright County contract, it appeared these were multi-year contracts, with extensions, so there might not be many previous iterations. But can also narrow/amend, if it's simply too much paper.
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
I think we should be able to pull the past 10 years for contracts. How do you want to handle the cost of retrieval?
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
Thank you for your response.
Ten years’ worth of contracts is not “easily obtainable” but it can be done. We have a new data base from 2016 which makes the compilation of these contracts much easier. If you would be satisfied with contracts from 2016 forward, I think we can minimize the cost to you to get these records.
Please advise. Also, please let me know how you would like to arrange payment.
Thank you.
Nancy
Nancy Norman Sommer
Assistant Anoka County Attorney
Anoka County Attorney’s Office
763-324-5411
Preferred pronouns: she/her/hers
Nancy.Norman@co.anoka.mn.us<mailto:Nancy.Norman@co.anoka.mn.us>
anokacounty.us/attorney<http://www.anokacounty.us/attorney>
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From: Derek Kravitz
We can amend the request to only include contracts since 2016. Thank you for the update.
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
That is very helpful. Once we have compiled the data, I will let you know the cost.
Thank you.
Nancy
From: Derek Kravitz
Thank you, let me know when an estimate is ready and we can prepare payment.
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
Good morning. The documents have been pulled together. Under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, we are authorized to charge for the time it took to locate, retrieve and prepare the documents for you. I have spoken with the individual who was able to do this and he spent six hours compiling the data. We charge at his rate of pay plus fringe, which is approximately $51.00 per hour. Therefore the total cost for the records is $306.00.
Please make your check payable to Anoka County. If you would like to pay with a credit card, let me know and I will see if that is possible.
Thank you.
Nancy
Nancy Norman Sommer
Assistant Anoka County Attorney
Anoka County Attorney’s Office
763-324-5411
Preferred pronouns: she/her/hers
Nancy.Norman@co.anoka.mn.us<mailto:Nancy.Norman@co.anoka.mn.us>
anokacounty.us/attorney<http://www.anokacounty.us/attorney>
[email_signature_image-02-small]
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image001
From: Derek Kravitz
If we could pay by credit card, that would be our preferred method.
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
Please see the process to pay by credit card: once this is completed I will provide the data.
Call the Anoka County Finance Front Desk (763-324-1700 is Front Desk phone)and:
* Identify themselves as MuckRock News
* Notify the Front Desk they are paying $306 by credit card for data request copies
I will let Front Desk know to expect this and also request the Front Desk to let us know of payment receipt so the documents can be delivered.
Nancy Norman Sommer
Assistant Anoka County Attorney
Anoka County Attorney’s Office
763-324-5411
Preferred pronouns: she/her/hers
Nancy.Norman@co.anoka.mn.us<mailto:Nancy.Norman@co.anoka.mn.us>
anokacounty.us/attorney<http://www.anokacounty.us/attorney>
[email_signature_image-02-small]
From: Derek Kravitz
This has been paid and receipts have been generated and sent out. Thank you.
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
Thank you. I will attempt to upload the responsive documents with the link below.
Nancy
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
I've attached all the responsive data back to 2016. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you.
Nancy Norman Sommer
Assistant Anoka County Attorney
2100 Third Avenue
Anoka, MN 55303
763-324-5411
nancy.norman@co.anoka.mn.us
There are too many files to display on this communication. See all files
From: Derek Kravitz
Unfortunately, these files only include contracts for autopsy services. As the attached file indicates, there are other, more substantive contracts for Medical Examiner Services we were requesting, which the underlying request references in both name and by attachment.
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
I apologize for the oversight, however my interpretation of your request is limited to Medical Examiner Services. The services provided by the Medical Examiner are autopsies. Your background and examples all relate to autopsy services. If you would like to expand your request, please clarify what contracts you are specifically looking for.
Also, I realized that I did not attach the budget and expenditure reports.
Nancy Norman Sommer
Assistant Anoka County Attorney
Anoka County Attorney’s Office
763-324-5411
Preferred pronouns: she/her/hers
Nancy.Norman@co.anoka.mn.us<mailto:Nancy.Norman@co.anoka.mn.us>
anokacounty.us/attorney<http://www.anokacounty.us/attorney>
[email_signature_image-02-small]
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image001
From: Derek Kravitz
The attached contract, which has now been included in three separate emails including the underlying request, relates to "Medical Examiner Services," and that contract is not included in your response. We request that our original request be reopened and contracts that fit the wording of the attached contract be included, not excluded.
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
I’m not trying to be difficult – but I do not understand. The three contracts above were all uploaded to your data base. If you would like me to send them all to you via this email I am happy to do that as well. We are not withholding any agreements from you. If there is some agreement that you expect but it is not included, please let me know.
Thank you.
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
I will send you four separate emails that contain the records that I uploaded:
The first is per capita contracts that are expired.
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
Fee Contracts Expired
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From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
Fee Contracts current and the budget.
This is the last email with all the county contracts from 2016 forward for medical examiner services.
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From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
These are the current Per Capita contracts.
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From: Derek Kravitz
Understood. I'll review these and circle back, thank you.
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
I have located a few additional agreements we have with certain hospitals and we are gathering them now to send off to you.
From: Midwest Medical Examiner's Office
I am attaching the Hospital agreements we have as well as those other agreements for harvesting.
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Files
pages
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