Public Records Request: Powell & SST

Mr. Hoover -

The City is denying your request for records as submitted, for the reason explained below by the City Law Department.

Eric Vreeland

Deputy Director of Communications

Please be advised that because of questions regarding the validity of requests for information under the Tennessee public records laws from request fulfillment services, particularly those located outside the State of Tennessee, the City of Knoxville does not provide copies of public records through such entities, including muckrock.com. Should you wish to submit a request to inspect or copy public records directly to the City of Knoxville, you may do so through the City department holding the requested records or through the City’s Department of Communications, either in person, by phone, by letter or by e-mail, using the form provided at this link:

http://www.knoxvilletn.gov/government/city_departments_offices/communications/. Pursuant to state law, requestors are expected to provide proof of Tennessee citizenship at the time of the request.

Ronald E. Mills

Deputy Law Director

City of Knoxville

400 Main Street Suite 699

P.O. Box 1631

Knoxville, TN 37901

(865) 215-2050 phone

(865) 215-2643 fax

rmills@knoxvilletn.gov<mailto:rmills@knoxvilletn.gov>

[Description: http://www.cityofknoxville.org/logos/NONE_cok_horz_seals_gold.jpg]

See attached

Please see attached correspondence from Ronald E. Mills, Deputy Law Director for the City of Knoxville, Tennessee.

Brenda Conn, Legal Assistant

City of Knoxville Law Department

P. O. Box 1631, Knoxville, TN 37901-1631

400 Main Street, Suite 699, Knoxville, TN 37902

865.215.2050

Mr. Hoover -

Since this request was initiated last summer, I want to revisit what you're requesting, in order to correctly produce the records you want.

Is this correct? This is what I have passed on to our Information Systems technicians:

Metadata of all emails which are sent to, from, including being CCed or BCCed by David Powell from January 1, 2022 to April 19, 2023 including one of the following keywords, "Sound Thinking", "SoundThinking", "ShotSpotter", "SafetySmart", "SST" or "Shot Spotter".

The specific metadata data points I'm interested in are: to address(es), from address, cc address(es), bcc address(es), sent date/time, received date/time, subject line, and if the email has an attachment. This request does not seek the contents of the emails themselves, and only the specified email metadata. Please provide me with the records in an Excel format.

I am unsure of the amount of time needed to fulfill this request, but I need to advise you of the possibility of a fee. The City follows the labor-reimbursement schedule outlined by the Tennessee Office of Open Records Counsel in handling records requests. The first hour of labor is waived, but then your fee would be the reimbursement for City employees' time for each subsequent hour. I believe that responding to this request may exceed the first free hour of labor, therefore resulting in a fee. I will be able to give you an estimate once an IS technician can start working on this.

Ms. Safstrom and Mr. Carey - I have included you in this email. Do you wish to continue to be included in correspondence regarding this records request between the City of Knoxville and Mr. Hoover?

Eric Vreeland

Deputy Director of Communications

Mr. Hoover -

Attached are the records that you requested in an Excel format. This should close out your request from last summer for the specified metadata records.

Gathering these records did incur a small labor-reimbursement fee. As we'd discussed in previous emails, the City follows the labor-reimbursement schedule outlined by the Tennessee Office of Open Records Counsel in handling records requests. The first hour of labor is waived, but then your fee would be the reimbursement for City employees' time for each subsequent hour.

After waiving the first hour of labor, your fee comes to $29.10. This reflects 2 hours of labor ($29.10 hourly salary) of one Information Systems technician.

If paying by check is possible, that’s probably easiest for us.

Please mail a check in the amount of $29.10 payable to the City of Knoxville to this address:

City of Knoxville

c/o Communications Department

Eric Vreeland, Deputy Director

City County Building, 400 Main Street, Room 654C

P.O. Box 1631

Knoxville TN 37901

Or, if you prefer to pay electronically, pls use this link:

https://pay.payitgov.com/knoxville-treasurydepartment

On the last line, where it asks for an invoice number, just type in “public records request.”

I’d appreciate it if you or someone with Muckrock can email me if an electronic payment is made, because I circle back to any records requesters at the end of the year if I’m not sure the fee has been paid.
Thanks!

Eric Vreeland

Deputy Director of Communications