"Staffing shortages"

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:

All searchable records sent to or from Commissioner James V. McDonald M.D. since January 1, 2023, that mention a "staffing shortage", "staffing shortages", "staff shortage", "staff shortages", "staffing issues", "short staffed", "short staffing", "staff illness", "staff absences", "staff sickness", "staff disability", "long covid", and "covid disability".

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,

ALEXANDER RICCIO

Just so it's clear, I'm well aware that this is a broad request and am more than willing to narrow if necessary.

If searchable, please include text messages.

If documents have already been located, will I need to narrow the request?

Please update me on the status of this request. How much/many of the documents have been reviewed?

I would like further updates on the status of the request. I am presuming you will *not* need to tell me to narrow the request - it seems that the record reflects you've accepted the terms of my request.

If you cannot provide updates on the status of this request except to delay it on February 16, 2024 by two to three months, how should I believe the agency is engaging in good faith?

If I - from outside the agency - can ever predict that a deadline like this will be missed, how can the agency claim that it couldn't have forseen any delays, and thus that the February 16, 2024 date is reasonable?

Hello hello, please update me on the status of this request. How much/many of the documents have been reviewed?

Is there anything you can forsee which is highly likely to cause the agency to miss the estimated completion date?

I am appealing on grounds of constructive denial.

On 12/21/2023, I sent the following communication:
Please update me on the status of this request. How much/many of the documents have been reviewed?

Receiving no response, on 01/04/2024, I sent the following communication:

I would like further updates on the status of the request. I am presuming you will *not* need to tell me to narrow the request - it seems that the record reflects you've accepted the terms of my request.

On 01/17/2024, still receiving no response, I sent the following communication:

If you cannot provide updates on the status of this request except to delay it on February 16, 2024 by two to three months, how should I believe the agency is engaging in good faith?

If I - from outside the agency - can ever predict that a deadline like this will be missed, how can the agency claim that it couldn't have forseen any delays, and thus that the February 16, 2024 date is reasonable?

On 01/25/2024, STILL receiving no response, I sent the following communication:
Hello hello, please update me on the status of this request. How much/many of the documents have been reviewed?

Is there anything you can forsee which is highly likely to cause the agency to miss the estimated completion date?

Just before 1pm on the day of the deadline, the agency sent a communication indicating that my request would not be completed until April 22, 2024.

At no point before the deadline did the agency inform me that there was some new and unforeseen factor which might delay the production of records in a way that is (again) unforeseeable before the date of the deadline. This is even after one prior extension and multiple inquiries about the status of the request.

I appeal on grounds of constructive denial.

State agencies have every right to take reasonable amounts of time to process and respond to FOIL requests.

They even, as the courts have ruled in Gannett Satellite Info. Network, LLC v. N.Y. State Thruway Auth, have a right to delay repeatedly in the event that the volume of FOIL requests is large, given that the delay is reasonable.

Later in the case of Empire Center for Public Policy v. New York State Department of Health, the courts denied the right of this agency to repeatedly delay the response to a more straightforward request. In that case, it was many months before the request was fulfilled, each time with the request delayed by the same cookie cutter period.

On MuckRock, the current average response time for a request to NYSDOH is 140 days.

It boggles my mind to think that anybody in the agency might honestly be so unfamiliar with the process that they would be off in their estimate by 6 months or more.

My guess is that this request will take at least 6 months to fulfill.

I am convinced that records access officers are competent at their jobs and intelligent individuals, thus it strains my sense of credulity to accept that delays are so consistently unforseen and unforeseeable to the point where completion dates must routinely and normally be extended. It has further drained my sense of patience in dealing with agencies when the obvious happens.

I have no qualm with the individual records access officer about this issue. I believe they are merely stuck working with a system that undervalues FOIL, and places overworked employees in a difficult position.

That does nothing to detract from the absurdity of an agency that first understaffs the FOIL positions, initially promises completion dates that are short enough to beguile requesters (but are rarely met), and then claims a lack of foresight about the failure to meet self imposed completion dates. Surely Kafka might've mistaken it for an excerpt from his work should he be alive today!

I am not challenging the right of an agency to take a long time to respond. However, by failing to give the date by which in reality the agency is *actually* likely to produce responsive records, I am deprived of my right to appeal that deadline until after it has been broken.

I am seeking a deadline by which the agency is highly likely, in its honest and intelligent judgment, to complete the request.

I have yet to receive acknowledgement of my 2/16/2024 appeal.

Thanks!

My appeal was never addressed. Indeed, I do not think a human has even looked at it or this request, given that I got an extension letter the day before the request was supposed to be filled... Which was... Y'know, the subject of my appeal