Joshua Freed e-mail with mayors/managers since 2016-09-01 (Mercer Island)

To whom it may concern:

## Background ##

On September 15, 2016, Seattle's, Auburn's, Renton's and King County's [Heroin and Prescription Opiate Addiction Task Force][1] issued a set of [recommendations][2] comprising a strategy for confronting the region's growing heroin and opioid epidemic. The recommendations focused on prevention, increasing access to treatment on demand, and reducing the number of fatal overdoses. Among those recommendations was that a pilot project be initiated with the establishment of two supervised consumption spaces--public health facilities also known by several other names, including community health engagement locations, in which people living with substance use disorder would be allowed to use otherwise-prohibited drugs in a clean environment that provides supervision, medical assistance, and connections to health care and long-term treatment. The task force recommended that for the pilot program, one of these facilities be located in Seattle and the other be located elsewhere in King County. About four months later, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and King County Executive Dow Constantine formally [accepted all recommendations][3] issued by the task force.

[1]: <http://kingcounty.gov/depts/community-human-services/mental-health-substance-abuse/task-forces/heroin-opiates-task-force.aspx>
[2]: <http://kingcounty.gov/elected/executive/constantine/news/release/2016/September/15-heroin-opioid-task-force-report.aspx>
[3]: <http://seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/seattle-king-county-move-to-create-2-injection-sites-for-drug-users/>

On May 11, 2017, a public initiative to ban supervised consumption sites in King County was [announced][4]. Chief sponsor of the proposed initiative (I-27) is Bothell City Council member Joshua Freed. The campaign formed a political action committee called Impaction, and Freed was later [reported][5] as the top donor to the PAC, having contributed $40,000 to it.

[4]: <http://seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/initiative-proposed-to-ban-heroin-safe-injection-sites-in-king-county/>
[5]: <http://seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/injectionsites-signatures/>

In an e-mail dated August 18, 2017, Andy Rheaume, mayor of Bothell, Washington, wrote to Joshua Freed, former mayor and current member of Bothell City Council, reporting that Mr. Freed had previously sent both inaccurate and misleading information about supervised consumption sites to unspecified mayors in multiple King County cities:

> Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2017 04:34:52 +0000
> From Andy Rheaume <Andy.Rheaume@bothellwa.gov>
> To: Joshua Freed <Joshua.Freed@bothellwa.gov>,
> Jennifer Phillips <jennifer.phillips@bothellwa.gov>,
> Tris Samberg <Tris.Samberg@bothellwa.gov>,
> Paul Byrne <Paul.Byrne@bothellwa.gov>
> Subject: Re: Heroin Injection Sites
>
> Josh,
>
> Its completely [inappropriate] for you to dictate to the city manager and the
> mayor when and how agenda items will be scheduled. Please review the council
> protocol manual. In addition, from what I understand from other mayors,
> cities have no need to adopt a ban on injection sites based on the language
> of the king county council ordinance.
>
> The city manager responsibility is to determine what the staff can handle. It
> is not appropriate for an individual council member to direct a city manager,
> and to think its OK to have a council member write an ordinance for council
> consideration.
>
> You sent an email to king county mayors other than me, indicating that the
> Bothell City Council will ban injection sites in September. The Bothell City
> Council has not weighed in on this issue in any way. For this fact alone, you
> do not have my support to have this added to any agenda while you are on
> council.
>
> Andy Rheaume
> Mayor of Bothell

## Request ##

Pursuant to RCW Ch. 42.56 (Public Records Act), I request all e-mail correspondence between Joshua Freed and your city's mayor and/or city manager since September 1, 2016. This should include messages to or from any e-mail address used by Mr. Freed, either public or private (e.g., joshua.freed@ci.bothell.wa.us, joshua.freed@bothellwa.gov, joshuafreed@mac.com, info@impacwa.com, etc.) This should include but not be limited to any of the messages cited by Bothell mayor Andy Rheaume when he wrote of Mr. Freed's messages to various King County mayors that reportedly contained both inaccurate information and misleading information pertaining to plans for supervised drug consumption sites or to the potential banning thereof.

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,

Phil Mocek

Dear Sir or Madam:

I received your two e-mail messages of September 15, 2017. In the first, sent at about 3:10 p.m. Pacific, you acknowledged receipt of my public records request placed the prior day. In the second, sent at around 3:14 p.m., you wrote that a "message was sent to [me] regarding record request #17-264."

Please note that the only messages I have received from you are the two described above, the second of which seems only to notify of the existence of the first.

Cordially,
Phil Mocek

Dear Ms. Swan:

Your workflow management software is likely quite useful to you, but please note that I have no plans to use it.

I provided multiple methods for your agency to contact me regarding this request, two of which: e-mail, fax, and postal mail. Two of those operate conveniently at the speed of light. Attempts at communication via other means (e.g., directing me to establish an account to log in and use your records management system to discover a message you left there, directing me to go to some address and exchange a secret handshake at the door before awaiting further direction, directing me to go to Luther Burbank Park and look under the big rock near the shelter for a note you left there, etc.) will almost certainly fail.

Cordially,
Phil Mocek

Dear Ms. Swan:

In your e-mail of September 18, you estimated that it will take 15 business days to complete my request, but you did not specify the reason for delay. You wrote that this was "based upon the need to clarify the request (if necessary), to locate and assemble the information requested, to notify third persons or agencies affected by the request (if necessary), and to determine whether any of the information requested is exempt," but you did not state whether those things were necessary or not. It appears that you chose the date arbitrarily or as part of some standard period of delay, not based on an actual estimate of work required, and stated a number of potential reasons for delay that might justify the delay under requirements of the PRA without regard for whether any of those are relevant to processing of this particular request.

Based on my familiarity with Internet e-mail both as a user of it and as a professional system administrator, I suspect that processing this request will require only a automated searches of two e-mail accounts and can be accomplished in approximately 10 minutes.

Please advise.

Cordially,
Phil Mocek