Missouri Sunshine Law: Request for email correspondence about me
| Submitted | Feb. 16, 2022 |
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Communications
From: Dillon Bergin
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the The Missouri Sunshine Law, I hereby request the following records:
All email correspondence, and all underlying documentation contained herein, between September 1st, 2021 and the date that this request is ultimately fulfilled, sent to, from or copied to all email addresses with the domain @health.mo.gov containing the two following non-case-sensitive-key-strings: ‘usa today’ or ‘dillon bergin.’
We, Documenting COVID-19, are a nonprofit organization working on behalf of news organizations, academics and other public bodies to provide clear, timely information for public dissemination. We have recently published our findings in The New York Times, The Washington Post and other publications.
This information is in the public interest as coronavirus remains a threat to public health. If access to the records I am requesting will take longer than the required amount of time, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies or the ability to inspect the requested records.
For any documents that are withheld on the grounds of an exemption, privilege, or other reason, please justify each omission separately by reference to specific exemptions of the law, and release all reasonably segregable portions of otherwise exempt material.
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 3 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Dillon Bergin
From: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services
Dear Mr. Bergin,
On February 16, 2022, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services received your request for records regarding all correspondence between September 1, 2021 and February 17, 2022 to/from/cc’d @health.mo.gov containg keywords “usa today” and/or “dillon bergin. I am responding within three business days as required by §610.023.3, RSMo.
We are actively working to fulfill your request. Records shall be extensively reviewed to protect closed or confidential information under Missouri Law. §610.021, RSMo.
At this time, the Department is working on a significant number of Sunshine Law Requests and as a result, we will need additional time to provide you with an estimated cost and number of responsive records. Due to the extensive process of search, review and obtainment of records, we estimate that your request will be fulfilled by March 18, 2022.
Before providing responsive records, the Department must:
1. Process and review the Sunshine Law request;
2. Notify relevant staff members of the request to obtain physical, electronic or other potentially responsive records that are not immediately accessible to the staff reviewers(s), if applicable.
3. Staff reviewer will then review the records to determine if they are responsive to the request;
4. Staff reviewer converts all responsive records in an accessible and useable format; and
5. Compile or print the responsive documents.
Please note that the above process is dependent upon the availability of other Department staff members to locate records, the volume of the request, other active Department Sunshine Law Requests, and the on-going work of staff reviewers.
§610.026, RSMo allows for collection of fees, including search, research, and staff time for retrieving, identifying, providing the requested records. Please note, that an invoice will be sent to you for any charges incurred in the fulfillment of your request prior to release of responsive records. The department charges $25.79 per hour for clerical time and ten cents per page for paper copies not larger than nine inches by fourteen inches.
Sincerely,
Christy A. Higgins
Sunshine Law Coordinator/Custodian of Records
Office of General Counsel
912 Wildwood Dr.
Jefferson City, Mo 65102
573-751-6955
Sunshine Law Requests can be submitted @ https://health.mo.gov/about/sunshine-requests.php
CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT
This email is from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. It contains confidential or privileged information that may be protected from disclosure by law. Unauthorized disclosure, review, copying, distribution, or use of this message or its contents by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please immediately destroy this message and notify the sender at the following email address: christy.higgins@health.mo.gov<mailto:christy.higgins@health.mo.gov> or by calling 573-751-6955.
From: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services
Dear Mr. Bergin,
The Department of Health and Senior Services has conducted an email search based upon the criteria you outlined below; this search returned 5,155 emails. I wanted to provide you with an estimate for processing these emails prior to proceeding; the estimated fee for processing these will be $670.54.
If you would like to reduce this fee I would suggest adjusting your key words, email addresses to be searched and/or the time frame in which you wish to search.
If you would like to pay this fee and proceed as is, please contact me as soon as possible and I will produce an invoice for you. We will not proceed with processing these emails until the fee is paid in full.
If I can be of further assistance please contact me.
Best,
Christy A. Higgins
Sunshine Law Coordinator/Custodian of Records
Office of General Counsel
912 Wildwood Dr.
Jefferson City, Mo 65102
573-751-6955
Sunshine Law Requests can be submitted @ https://health.mo.gov/about/sunshine-requests.php
CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT
This email is from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. It contains confidential or privileged information that may be protected from disclosure by law. Unauthorized disclosure, review, copying, distribution, or use of this message or its contents by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please immediately destroy this message and notify the sender at the following email address: christy.higgins@health.mo.gov<mailto:christy.higgins@health.mo.gov> or by calling 573-751-6955.
From: Dillon Bergin
Hi Christy,
Thank you for the reply and research on that. I appreciate it.
I'm thinking that your right, and I should limit my search further. What if I removed the keystring "usa today" and instead kept the same time frame but just searched for only my name "dillon bergin." I have a feeling that might be significantly less and manageable for us price-wise.
Thank you!
Dillon
From: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services
I agree this will narrow the search, I will get this search conducted today and follow up with you.
Have a great day,
Christy A. Higgins
Sunshine Law Coordinator/Custodian of Records
Office of General Counsel
912 Wildwood Dr.
Jefferson City, Mo 65102
573-751-6955
Sunshine Law Requests can be submitted @ https://health.mo.gov/about/sunshine-requests.php
CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT
This email is from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. It contains confidential or privileged information that may be protected from disclosure by law. Unauthorized disclosure, review, copying, distribution, or use of this message or its contents by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please immediately destroy this message and notify the sender at the following email address: christy.higgins@health.mo.gov<mailto:christy.higgins@health.mo.gov> or by calling 573-751-6955.
From: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services
Dear Mr. Bergin,
Your revised search returned 86 relevant emails, there is no charge for this number of emails and you can access those via this link https://stateofmissouri.box.com/s/dxs1s7x0336w09gy2jct21g9g1li9juc We have conducted a thorough review of all emails and found no need for redaction or closure of confidential information.
Have a great day,
Christy A. Higgins
Sunshine Law Coordinator/Custodian of Records
Office of General Counsel
912 Wildwood Dr.
Jefferson City, Mo 65102
573-751-6955
Sunshine Law Requests can be submitted @ https://health.mo.gov/about/sunshine-requests.php
CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT
This email is from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. It contains confidential or privileged information that may be protected from disclosure by law. Unauthorized disclosure, review, copying, distribution, or use of this message or its contents by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please immediately destroy this message and notify the sender at the following email address: christy.higgins@health.mo.gov<mailto:christy.higgins@health.mo.gov> or by calling 573-751-6955.
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