Public Public Records Request: Emails between Eric Holcomb and media RE: Removed Baltimore monuments (Baltimore City Commission For Historical & Architectural Preservation)
| Multi Request | Public Public Records Request: Emails between Eric Holcomb and media RE: Removed Baltimore monuments |
| Submitted | Jan. 30, 2020 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Shawn Breen
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Maryland Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Copies of any emails between CHAP Executive Director Eric Holcomb and any media representatives regarding the four monuments that were removed from public spaces which were sent or received between January 1, 2019 and the current date. This should include Baltimore Sun reporter Colin Campbell, The Capital Gazette, WUSA 9 TV, WTOP, or any other media organization known to have communicated with Mr. Holcomb about the four monuments which were removed. This should include any attachments, documents or follow-up responses. Suggested search terms should include but are not limited to "monuments", "Confederate", and "Sons of Confederate Veterans".
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 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Shawn Breen
From: Baltimore City Commission For Historical & Architectural Preservation
Mr. Breen,
We are in receipt of your request to the Baltimore City Commission For Historical & Architectural Preservation ("CHAP"), below. The Maryland Public Information Act ("PIA"), Maryland Code, General Provisions ("GP"), Sections 4-101 et seq. governs your request. A request for public information under the PIA must be submitted to an agency's custodian of public records. GP § 4-202(a). Each governmental entity, including each Baltimore City agency, is the custodian of its own records. See Baltimore City Code, Art. 1 § 10-1. This response is on behalf of CHAP.
The PIA permits custodian to charge a reasonable fee for the actual costs incurred, beyond two non-compensable hours, for the retrieval, review, and preparation of a public record. GP § 4-206(b). Such costs include the prorated salaries for the actual time it takes each individual employee to process the request and includes media and mechanical processing costs. Id.
Accordingly, given the breadth of this request, in its present form, we anticipate that a significant fee would have to be assessed. As such currently the potentially responsive documents for your request turned number over 5,209 pages. I estimate that I could review and redact about a hundred pages an hour at the rate of $23.95 per hour. Please let us know if this is truly what you want, and we will proceed with assessing a fee to fulfill this request. If you wish to request a search with narrower parameters, please let us know. In that case, the review time could be far less, and I could perhaps get that done for you within a more reasonable time-frame with a reduced fee.
Sincerely,
[cid:image001.png@01D5E0B8.BCA28730]<http://www.baltimorecity.gov/>
Department of Law
Khadeja Farahmand, L.L.M
Legal Advice & Opinions
Baltimore City Department of Law
100 N. Holliday Street, Suite 101
Baltimore, MD 21202
Khadeja.Farahmand@baltimorecity.gov<mailto:Khadeja.Farahmand@baltimorecity.gov>
Office: (410)396-3257
Fax: (410) 396-3257
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image001
From: Baltimore City Commission For Historical & Architectural Preservation
Mr. Breen,
We are in receipt of your request to the Baltimore City Commission For Historical & Architectural Preservation ("CHAP"), below. The Maryland Public Information Act ("PIA"), Maryland Code, General Provisions ("GP"), Sections 4-101 et seq. governs your request. A request for public information under the PIA must be submitted to an agency's custodian of public records. GP § 4-202(a). Each governmental entity, including each Baltimore City agency, is the custodian of its own records. See Baltimore City Code, Art. 1 § 10-1. This response is on behalf of CHAP.
The PIA permits custodian to charge a reasonable fee for the actual costs incurred, beyond two non-compensable hours, for the retrieval, review, and preparation of a public record. GP § 4-206(b). Such costs include the prorated salaries for the actual time it takes each individual employee to process the request and includes media and mechanical processing costs. Id.
Accordingly, given the breadth of this request, in its present form, we anticipate that a significant fee would have to be assessed. As such currently the potentially responsive documents for your request turned number over 5,209 pages. I estimate that I could review and redact about a hundred pages an hour at the rate of $23.95 per hour. Please let us know if this is truly what you want, and we will proceed with assessing a fee to fulfill this request. If you wish to request a search with narrower parameters, please let us know. In that case, the review time could be far less, and I could perhaps get that done for you within a more reasonable time-frame with a reduced fee.
Sincerely,
[cid:image001.png@01D5E0B8.BCA28730]<http://www.baltimorecity.gov/>
Department of Law
Khadeja Farahmand, L.L.M
Legal Advice & Opinions
Baltimore City Department of Law
100 N. Holliday Street, Suite 101
Baltimore, MD 21202
Khadeja.Farahmand@baltimorecity.gov<mailto:Khadeja.Farahmand@baltimorecity.gov>
Office: (410)396-3257
Fax: (410) 396-3257
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From: Shawn Breen
Hi. Thank you. I certainly DO NOT want to proceed with this request in its current form as it would not be financially advantageous to myself, nor would it be fair to the city to have to expend so many resources on this request in its current form.
In order to more narrowly tailor my request, could we narrow the request to only include emails to or from Mr. Holcomb containing the words "Sons of Confederate Veterans" as well as any emails to or from any representative of the orginization the Sons of Confederate Veterans during the same previously stated timeframe and ignoring all other search terms and suggested targets?
If you find that this narrowed request is still too broad, please provide a new estimate as to the current expected charges before proceeding so that I can consider whether I would wish to move forward.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Maryland Public Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 30, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Baltimore City Commission For Historical & Architectural Preservation
Mr. Breen,
Since you are not interested in narrowing the request, I want you to know that we have begun the process of gathering all the emails. As mentioned below the actual charge will be based on my review time. A review of over 5,209 pages at $23.95 an hour is $1,197.5 fee. Accordingly, please send to my attention a check, made payable to the Director of Finance, in the amount of $ $1,197.5. Upon receipt of payment, I will continue processing your request. GP § 4-206.
Nothing in this response is intended to indicate that any records sought from City agencies exist or to waive any privileges held by the Mayor and City Council. You may contest this response by filing a complaint in Circuit Court pursuant to GP Section 4-362.
Sincerely,
Khadeja
[cid:image001.png@01D5F0BF.A72D6ED0]<http://www.baltimorecity.gov/>
Department of Law
Khadeja Farahmand, L.L.M
Legal Advice & Opinions
Baltimore City Department of Law
100 N. Holliday Street, Suite 101
Baltimore, MD 21202
Khadeja.Farahmand@baltimorecity.gov<mailto:Khadeja.Farahmand@baltimorecity.gov>
Office: (410)396-3257
Fax: (410) 396-3257
From: Shawn Breen
I would like to cancel this request.