Mosquito Spraying (Department of Health and Mental Hygiene)

Your request has been emailed to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) because that agency is not yet using
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Request Title: Mosquito Spraying (Department of Health and Mental Hygiene)

Request Description: To Whom It May Concern:

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

- Emails since 2010 to or from mosquito adulticide and larvicide providers and contractors for the New York City area;
- Emails since 2010 containing one or more of the following non-case-sensitive terms in the subject, to, from, bcc, cc or other metadata field, the body or a combination thereof: "Clarke"; "Anvil"; "DeltaGuard"; "Duet"; "Mosquito"; "Mosquitoes"; "Mosquitos"; "Adulticide"; "Truck Spraying"; "West Nile"; "West Nile Virus"; "Vector control"; "EPA approval"; "Safety Data Sheet"; "SDS"; "Community notice"; "Public notice"; "Aerial spraying"

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,

UT

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Requester's Contact Information



Name:
Ut Ut

Title:
Not provided

Organization:
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Email:
requests@muckrock.com (mailto:requests@muckrock.com)

Phone Number:
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Fax Number:
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Street Address (line 1):
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Street Address (line 2):
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Please contact the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) via email at foil@health.nyc.gov
for any further information. (mailto:foil@health.nyc.gov)

Dear Ut Ut,

FOIL Control #: 2023FR01733

The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) acknowledges receipt of your Freedom of Information Law request. It has been assigned the above-noted control number and has been forwarded to the following bureau for processing:

Records Access Officer

Bernadette O' Donnell, email: bodonnell1@health.nyc.gov

You should receive a response from the program/bureau within twenty(20) business days. Please note that as of January 1, 2019, the Department charges the statutorily allowable fee of 25¢ per page for FOIL responses of records maintained in hard copy format only. You will be advised by the program/bureau of the fee that is due and, upon receipt of your payment by check or money order, the copies will be forwarded to you.
All inquiries about the status of your request should be made with the program/bureau and control number noted above.

Thank you,

FOIL Administration

Office of the General Counsel

NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene - City of New York

42-09 28th St.,CN30, Long Island City, NY 11101

Telephone:347-396-6116 Fax:347-396-6087

Email: recordsaccess@health.nyc.gov | nyc.gov/health<https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/index.page>

Dear Ut Ut:

Based on a backlog of Freedom of Information Law requests this agency is working through, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene needs additional time to respond to your request with the above-referenced control number. I anticipate that you will receive a response to this request by January 19, 2024.

I apologize for the delay.

Sincerely,
Bernadette O'Donnell

Dear Ut Ut:

I am writing with an update on your Freedom of Information Law request as follows:

1. Emails since 2010 to or from mosquito adulticide and larvicide providers and contractors for the New York City area-
* A search for records responsive to your request contained over 3,000 items

1. Emails since 2010 containing one or more of the following non-case-sensitive terms in the subject, to, from, bcc, cc or other metadata field, the body or a combination thereof: "Clarke"; "Anvil"; "DeltaGuard"; "Duet"; "Mosquito"; "Mosquitoes"; "Mosquitos"; "Adulticide"; "Truck Spraying"; "West Nile";
* A search for records responsive to this part of your request resulted in millions of hits.

Would you be willing to amend these searches so that the search terms and the timeframe results in a reasonable number of hits? If not, please let me know, and I will provide you with a formal denial and information pertaining to your right to appeal.
Thanks,
Bernadette

Hi there,

Thanks for getting back to me. Is there a keyword or keywords you are looking for with respect to communications with providers and contractors? There are 3,000 hits and over 823 MB of data. For reference, 1 GB, according to industry standards, can contain anywhere from 15,000 to 60,000 pages, depending on the type of document involved. Each document needs to be reviewed for applicable exemptions and responsiveness prior to release.

Please let me know.
Thanks,
Bernadette

Thanks very much. I am running the search with keyterms now. I expect to be able to get back to you later today, but please reach out to me on Friday if you have not heard back from me. Thanks.

Thanks very much. The search still returns .5 GB of data. According to industry estimates, 1 GB of data can contain anywhere from 15,000 to 60,000 pages.

Would you be amenable to limiting the timeframe?

Thanks very much- I am running the search now. I should get back to you by the end of the day but please feel free to contact me next week if you have not heard back from me.

Hi again- the amended search has completed. Unfortunately, the size of the file is approximately 495 MB (or approximately .5 GB). I have attached reference materials from LexisNexis that provide more information on approximately how many pages of each type of file are contained with 1GB.

I believe it may help if the term “West Nile” is accompanied by an AND connector instead of an OR connector. See below. Would this work?

"Anvil" OR "Clarke" OR "DeltaGuard" OR "Truck Spraying" OR "Adulticide" OR "Larvicide" AND "West Nile"(c:c)(date=2016-01-01..2023-11-17)(participants=@clarke.com)(participants=@valentbiosciences.com)(participants=@myadapco.com)

Hello- I don’t believe I have heard back from you regarding whether you would be amenable to the following search- please let me know. Many thanks.

"Anvil" OR "Clarke" OR "DeltaGuard" OR "Truck Spraying" OR "Adulticide" OR "Larvicide" AND "West Nile"(c:c)(date=2016-01-01..2023-11-17)(participants=@clarke.com)(participants=@valentbiosciences.com)(participants=@myadapco.com<mailto:participants=@clarke.com)(participants=@valentbiosciences.com)(participants=@myadapco.com>)

Thanks very much. I am running the search now. You should hear from me by the end of the week with an update, but please don’t hesitate to reach out to me next week if you have not heard from me.
Thanks,
Bernadette

Hi again-

The search below is reasonable. I wanted to share it with you to make sure we are on the same page before providing a date by which you will receive responsive records. Please note that I have put every word with OR connectors in brackets.

("Anvil" OR "DeltaGuard" OR "Truck Spraying" OR "Adulticide" OR "Larvicide" OR "West Nile") AND "Clarke" (c:c)(date=2016-01-01..2023-11-17)(participants=@clarke.com)(participants=@valentbiosciences.com)(participants=@myadapco.com<mailto:participants=@clarke.com)(participants=@valentbiosciences.com)(participants=@myadapco.com>)

Please let me know if you have any questions and/or you agree to receiving records with the search described above.

Many thanks,
Bernadette

Hello,

I don’t believe I have heard from you with respect to whether you agree to the following search terms. Please let me know if I missed something.

("Anvil" OR "DeltaGuard" OR "Truck Spraying" OR "Adulticide" OR "Larvicide" OR "West Nile") AND "Clarke" (c:c)(date=2016-01-01..2023-11-17)(participants=@clarke.com)(participants=@valentbiosciences.com)(participants=@myadapco.com<mailto:participants=@clarke.com)(participants=@valentbiosciences.com)(participants=@myadapco.com>)
Thanks,
Bernadette

Just wanted to check in one more time to see if you agree to the following search terms:

("Anvil" OR "DeltaGuard" OR "Truck Spraying" OR "Adulticide" OR "Larvicide" OR "West Nile") AND "Clarke" (c:c)(date=2016-01-01..2023-11-17)(participants=@clarke.com)(participants=@valentbiosciences.com)(participants=@myadapco.com<mailto:participants=@clarke.com)(participants=@valentbiosciences.com)(participants=@myadapco.com>)