Personnel and disciplinary record, subject: Undersheriff Frederick J. Akshar II
It is a clone of this request.
| Submitted | June 12, 2020 |
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Communications
From: T. McElwee
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:
The complete personnel record of Frederick J. Akshar II, and disciplinary records that identify Akshar as a subject.
It is the requesting party's understanding that pursuant to legislation signed by the Governor of the State of New York, the law that prevented disclosure of this material (Civil Rights Law Section 50-a) is repealed and all such records are now covered by the Freedom of Information Law.
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Law as it has been amended by aforementioned legislation, records that may be released include "the complaints, allegations, and charges against an employee; the name of the employee complained of or charged; the transcript of any disciplinary trial or hearing, including any exhibits introduced at such trial or hearing; the disposition of any disciplinary proceeding; and the final written opinion or memorandum supporting the disposition and discipline imposed including the agency's complete factual findings and its analysis of the conduct and appropriate discipline of the covered employee."
By precedent, Freedom of Information Law uses a "balancing test" method of weighing privacy interests favoring redaction/denial vs. the public interest in favor of disclosure. This matter is of clear public interest for the following reasons: Akshar is a public figure, having served as a State Senator since 2015. Akshar cites his law enforcement background and his 13 years in the Broome County Sheriff's office in his official State Senate biography; release of these records is in line with the basic right of the examination of claims by elected officials.
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,
T. McElwee
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 12, 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: Broome County Sheriff
July 6, 2020
Dear T. McElwee:
I am hereby acknowledging your request dated June 26, 2020 to inspect records.
This office will make every effort to find the information you are seeking and provide it to you promptly. Some information is not releasable, and sometimes the information may not exist. In accordance with the Public Officers Law, we will advise you within the next five business days whether your request for information will be granted, denied, granted in part, or if we will need more time not to exceed 20 days to respond to your request. At that time, we will inform you as to whether the materials you have requested will be made available to you and when. Public Officers Law provides for the information to be made available, unless it is denied, within a reasonable time frame.
For paper copies more than four pages, there is a charge of $.25 per page. Information is not always available electronically at this point. However, if information is available electronically on disk the charge is $2.00. We will notify you of any amount due upon determination that the records are available.
If you have any questions in regard to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact this office.
Sincerely,
Robert J. O'Donnell
DEPUTY RECORDS ACCESS OFFICER
rjo/
c. file
--
Broome County Records Access Office
c/o Broome County Legislature
Edwin L. Crawford County Office Building
6th Floor, P.O. Box 1766
Binghamton, NY 13902-1766
FOIL Phone: (607) 778-2287
FOIL.Broome@broomecounty.us<mailto:FOIL.Broome@broomecounty.us>
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 12, 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: Broome County Sheriff
July 21, 2020
Dear Mr. McElwee:
Please know that more time is needed to compile and process your request. The Sheriff's Office has requested at least a 30 business day extension to search for, compile, and review the requested records for potential redactions.
This office will notify you as soon as the records become available.
If you have any questions in regard to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact this office.
Sincerely,
Robert J. O'Donnell
DEPUTY RECORDS ACCESS OFFICER
rjo/
c. file
--
Broome County Records Access Office
c/o Broome County Legislature
Edwin L. Crawford County Office Building
6th Floor, P.O. Box 1766
Binghamton, NY 13902-1766
FOIL Phone: (607) 778-2287
FOIL.Broome@broomecounty.us<mailto:FOIL.Broome@broomecounty.us>
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 12, 2020. You previously indicated that it would be completed on Sept. 1, 2020. I wanted to let you know that I am still interested in the following documents, and to see if that date was still accurate.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Broome County Sheriff
August 10, 2020
Dear Mr. McElwee:
Thank you for reaching out regarding your FOIL request. Seeing that time extension requested was done so by the Sheriff's Office, our office will contact them regarding an update.
As soon as we hear back from them, we will be sure to contact you.
If you have any questions in regard to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact this office.
Sincerely,
Robert J. O'Donnell
DEPUTY RECORDS ACCESS OFFICER
rjo/
c. file
--
Broome County Records Access Office
c/o Broome County Legislature
Edwin L. Crawford County Office Building
6th Floor, P.O. Box 1766
Binghamton, NY 13902-1766
FOIL Phone: (607) 778-2287
FOIL.Broome@broomecounty.us<mailto:FOIL.Broome@broomecounty.us>
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 12, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Sept. 1, 2020. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Broome County Sheriff
September 1, 2020
Mr. McElwee:
It's my understanding that the Broome County Sheriff's Office has reached out to you with clarification questions on your FOIL request and to date they have not received a response.
Our office will check with them to obtain a status update.
If you have any questions in regard to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact this office.
Sincerely,
Robert J. O'Donnell
DEPUTY RECORDS ACCESS OFFICER
rjo/
c. file
--
Broome County Records Access Office
c/o Broome County Legislature
Edwin L. Crawford County Office Building
6th Floor, P.O. Box 1766
Binghamton, NY 13902-1766
FOIL Phone: (607) 778-2287
FOIL.Broome@broomecounty.us<mailto:FOIL.Broome@broomecounty.us>
From: T. McElwee
Mr. O'Donnell,
I'm afraid to say that I have not received any message from the Broome County Sheriff's Office (or any other correspondence about this FOIL request). Your email is the only one I have received any correspondence from.
I am more than happy to answer any clarifying questions at this email address.
Thank you,
-TM
From: Broome County Sheriff
Mr. McElwee -
I left a voice message at (617)299-1832, the number you listed as your daytime phone number. I did not receive a return call.
Your request had two parts: "The complete personnel record of Frederick J. Akshar II, and disciplinary records that identify Akshar as a subject."
We have no disciplinary records that identify Akshar as a subject. I will send a FOIL reply to that effect.
If you still want his complete personnel record, that will take about two weeks for me to complete. Please advise me or Mr. O'Donnell. Thanks.
Eric C. Janis
Undersheriff
Broome County Sheriff's Office
155 Lt. VanWinkle Drive
Binghamton, NY 13905
(607) 778-2101 - Office
This is a follow up to a previous request:
Mr. O'Donnell,
I'm afraid to say that I have not received any message from the Broome County Sheriff's Office (or any other correspondence about this FOIL request). Your email is the only one I have received any correspondence from.
I am more than happy to answer any clarifying questions at this email address.
Thank you,
-TM
From: T. McElwee
Mr. Janis, Mr. O'Donnell:
I will gladly accept the personnel file as responsive to the request. This should be the complete file, minus information that is redacted in accordance with the exemptions in the Freedom of Information Law or other applicable law (ex: Social Security Law and health information).
And to elaborate: if there are slips or other documentation normally used to certify the transfer or destruction of records (as a matter of documenting chain of custody for purposes of audit), they should also be considered to be responsive records and included.
Thank you,
T. McElwee
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 12, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Sept. 1, 2020. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 12, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Sept. 1, 2020. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 12, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Sept. 1, 2020. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Broome County Sheriff
October 21, 2020
Dear T. McElwee:
Thank you for reaching out. This request deals with several hundred pages of records. We are in the processing of reviewing the records and making the necessary redactions as prescribed by the New York State Public Officers Law.
As soon as we have finalized the records we will be sure to reach out to you. Thank you for your time.
If you have any questions in regard to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact this office.
Sincerely,
Robert J. O'Donnell
DEPUTY RECORDS ACCESS OFFICER
rjo/
c. file
--
Broome County Records Access Office
c/o Broome County Legislature
Edwin L. Crawford County Office Building
6th Floor, P.O. Box 1766
Binghamton, NY 13902-1766
FOIL Phone: (607) 778-2287
FOIL.Broome@broomecounty.us<mailto:FOIL.Broome@broomecounty.us>
From: Broome County Sheriff
October 27, 2020
Dear T. McElwee:
Under the New York State Freedom of Information Law, you requested the following:
1. The complete personnel record of Frederick J. Akshar II, and disciplinary records that identify Akshar as a subject.
2. Disciplinary records that identify Akshar as a subject.
Part of the information you requested is attached. You will find information for request number one. Also, please note that some of the information has been redacted due to provisions of the New York State Public Officers Law Section 87(2)(b).
Additionally, I regret that I must notify you that request number two of your request has been denied by the Broome County Sheriff's Office because after an extensive review of Mr. Akshar's file no records exist.
You have the right to file an appeal of this application's partial denial. You may do this by filing a written or electronic appeal with the Records Access Officer. A written decision will be made by the Appeals Officer within 10 business days from receiving the appeal.
If you have any questions in regard to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact this office.
Sincerely,
Robert J. O'Donnell
DEPUTY RECORDS ACCESS OFFICER
/rjo
c. file
--
Broome County Records Access Office
c/o Broome County Legislature
Edwin L. Crawford County Office Building
6th Floor, P.O. Box 1766
Binghamton, NY 13902-1766
FOIL Phone: (607) 778-2287
FOIL.Broome@broomecounty.us<mailto:FOIL.Broome@broomecounty.us>
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