MO DPS MOUs MOAs

Good afternoon,

The Department of Public Safety, Office of the Director (“DPS”), received the below request for an update as to the record request that was emailed to Records@fps.mo.gov<mailto:Records@fps.mo.gov> on September 27, 2023. Further, this response is only on behalf of DPS.

You requested the following: Documents and/or records of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs), Letters of Agreement (LOAs), Service Level Agreements and documents of other coordination, cooperation, or other resources or information for sharing arrangements between your agency and any multi-jurisdictional Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, State and/or Local Task Forces, committees, coalitions, councils or commissions currently or previously operating in the state of Missouri. For July 1, 2019 to the date.

DPS is in the process of locating what responsive records that it may have responsive to your request. Please be aware that some records may be closed or confidential under Missouri law, if any records responsive to your request are closed you will be notified of the basis for the closure.

It is estimated that it will take fifteen (15) business days to process your request. The ability to process and review the present record request is dependent upon the availability of other staff members to locate items, the volume of this specific request, other active open records requests, and the ongoing work of staff reviewers. The estimated time provided above considers these circumstances to provide the responsive records at the earliest date possible.

Further, section 610.026, RSMo, also allows for the collection of fees, including search, research, and staff time for retrieving, identifying, and providing the requested records. DPS will notify you of the cost for fulfilling this request prior to production.

When the referenced information has been compiled, you will be notified accordingly and advised on how to expect to receive the records. Thank you.

As we previously responded on November 7, 2023:
The Department of Public Safety, Office of the Director (“DPS”) has located at least 8,000 pages of responsive records to your records request for: Documents and/or records of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs), Letters of Agreement (LOAs), Service Level Agreements and documents of other coordination, cooperation, or other resources or information for sharing arrangements between your agency and any multi¬jurisdictional Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, State and/or Local Task Forces, committees, coalitions, councils or commissions currently or previously operating in the state of Missouri. For July 1, 2019 to present. The majority of the relevant documents located thus far are documents related to the sub-awarding funds to task forces.

Of the 8,000 pages that DPS has located some records may be closed or confidential under Missouri law. If you wish to receive the material that may be open, DPS has estimated the cost associated with processing your requested records is at least $4,159.12. As this is an estimate, if the time needed to complete the research required to fulfill the request is greater or lesser than the current estimated amount of time, then you will be refunded or charged for the difference. Further, this estimate does not include any copying fees.

If you wish for us to proceed, please send payment in the form of cash or a cashier's check, money order, or personal check made payable to State of Missouri, Department of Revenue, to the following address:
Missouri Department of Public Safety
Office of the Director
Attention: Judy Murray
P.O. Box 749
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0749

Upon receipt of the processing fee, we will begin compiling the requested records. We estimate that it will take thirty (30) business days from receipt of payment to produce these records. If that time period needs to be extended, I will notify you accordingly. Alternatively, if you elect to not proceed with fulfilling this request or you wish to modify the request, please notify DPS in writing.

Section 610.026.1(1), RSMo, allows a public governmental body to charge the average hourly rate of pay for clerical staff to duplicate documents and the actual cost of the research time for compiling the request. Approximately 8,000 pages of potentially responsive records have been identified, the majority of the records are related to sub-awarding grant funds to tasks forces, which is responsive to your request for documents related to resources or information sharing arrangements. As a reminder, copying charges were not a part of the previously provided estimate.

At the rate of only one minute per page to search for and then to compile the records, it would take approximately 133.33 hours to fulfill the request. The estimated time was then rounded down to 133 hours. The lowest paid employee as of October 7, 2023 that could fulfill the request is paid $17.995 per hour, not including fringe benefits. The hourly rate of pay was then rounded down to $17.99. The lowest paid employee’s salary, plus fringe benefits, was then multiplied against the estimated time it would take to search for and to compile the records, which equals $4,159.12.

Upon further review of the estimated cost to fulfill you record request, DPS is removing the fringe benefits from its cost estimate. Therefore, the cost estimate is $2,392.67, which is the cost of the lowest paid employee by their hourly rate of pay times the estimated time to search for and compile the 8,000 pages that have been identified thus far.

The above calculated cost is due to the large volume of responsive documents to the request: “Documents and/or records of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs), Letters of Agreement (LOAs), Service Level Agreements and documents of other coordination, cooperation, or other resources or information for sharing arrangements between your agency and any multi-jurisdictional Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, State and/or Local Task Forces, committees, coalitions, councils or commissions currently or previously operating in the state of Missouri. For July 1, 2019 to the date or your acknowledgement of receiving this request.” As you were previously informed, this is an estimate, if the time needed to complete the research required to fulfill the request is greater or lesser than the current estimated amount of time, then you will be refunded or charged for the difference.

If you wish to proceed, please send payment in the form of cash or a cashier's check, money order, or personal check made payable to State of Missouri, Department of Revenue, within 10 business days to the following address:
Missouri Department of Public Safety
Office of the Director
Attention: Judy Murray
P.O. Box 749
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0749

Upon receipt of the processing fee, we will begin compiling the requested records. We estimate that it will take at least thirty (30) business days from receipt of payment to produce these records. If that time period needs to be extended, I will notify you accordingly. Alternatively, if you elect to not proceed with fulfilling this request or you wish to modify the request, please notify DPS in writing.

Sincerely,

Judy Murray

Judy Murray
Custodian of Records
MO Department of Public Safety
Office of the Director
PO Box 749
Jefferson City, MO 65102