Larry Goldzband and Greg Scharff Communcations
| Submitted | May 7, 2021 |
| Est. Completion | None |
MuckRock users can file, duplicate, track, and share public records requests like this one. Learn more.
Communications
From: Robbie Powelson
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All email communications between Larry Goldzband and Greg Scharff between August 18th 2019, and May 7th 2021.
Screenshots of all text messages between Larry Goldzband and Greg Scharff between August 18th 2019 and May 7th 2021.
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 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Robbie Powelson
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following California Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 7, 2021. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Bay Conservation And Development Commission
Thank you for your email. It has been forwarded to the Legal Department. Someone will reach out to you.
Grace Gomez
From: Bay Conservation And Development Commission
Dear Mr. Powelson:
This is to acknowledge receipt of, and provide an initial response to, your three Public Records Act (PRA) requests to BCDC. The first request was received on May 5th and is for all emails sent or received between Larry Goldzband and Adrienne Klein between August 18, 2019 and May 5, 2021. The second request was received on May 7th and is for all email communications and screenshots of all text messages between Priscilla Njuguna and Larry Goldzband between August 18, 2019 and May 7, 2021. The third request was also received on May 7th and is for all email communications and screenshots of all text messages between Larry Goldzband and Greg Scharff between August 18, 2019, and May 7, 2021. We have determined that each of your requests, in part, seeks disclosable public records, as discussed further below.
As to the requested emails, to identify all responsive emails involving Mr. Goldzband, Ms. Klein, Ms. Njuguna, and Commissioner Scharff, it will be necessary to perform searches on BCDC's server. In performing those searches, we interpret your requests for emails between Mr. Goldzband and Ms. Klein, and between Mr. Goldzband and Ms. Njuguna, to also include emails in which another BCDC staff person is copied on an email. For example, if Mr. Goldzband sent an email to Ms. Klein and copied Ms. Njuguna, Mr. McCrae, and/or Ms. Donovan, or if Ms. Klein sent an email to Mr. Goldzband and also copied Mr. McCrae, Ms. Njuguna, and/or Ms. Donovan, we interpret your request as encompassing such emails. Similarly, we interpret your request for emails between Mr. Goldzband and Commissioner Scharff to include emails in which another BCDC staff person or another Commissioner on the Enforcement Committee is copied on the email. However, we interpret your request as excluding emails that Mr. Goldzband has sent to all Commissioners, such as the emails Mr. Goldzband routinely sends to all Commissioners following each Commission meeting summarizing the items considered and actions taken at the meeting. If our interpretations of your requests are inaccurate, please let me know promptly. Otherwise, we will perform the server searches to include all email messages as described in this paragraph, and not solely emails between the two parties identified in each of your three requests.
You will be required to bear the costs of the computer services for the programming and data extraction necessary identify and retrieve the responsive emails by performing searches on BCDC's server. Government Code section 6253.9(b). The searches will require searching three email accounts - those of Mr. Goldzband, Ms. Klein, and Ms. Njuguna. Our IT specialist estimates that approximately 20 to 45 minutes will be required for programming and data extraction for each of the three email accounts. We will charge the minimum estimated time of 20 minutes per account. The billing rate for our IT specialist is $76.19 per hour. Therefore, the charge for 60 minutes of his time to perform the programming and data extraction for these searches to identify and retrieve responsive emails will be $76.19.
In addition to performing the searches on BCDC's server, we have requested that Commissioner Scharff provide responsive emails between himself and Mr. Goldzband (including emails on which other BCDC staff or another member of the Enforcement Committee is copied).
Unless you inform us that you decline to pay the costs of performing the searches on BCDC's server to identify and retrieve responsive emails, we will perform the searches this week and expect to be able provide responsive emails by Tuesday of next week, or by May 25th. We also expect to be able to provide the emails provided by Commissioner Scharff by next Tuesday. We expect to provide the responsive emails in electronic format, although we have not yet determined whether the emails provided by Commissioner Scharff will be in their native format or provided as pdf documents. We should be able to upload the responsive emails to a Drop Box folder at no charge. An alternative option would be to copy the responsive emails to a jump drive and mail the jump drive to you, in which case, we would also charge for postage and for the cost of the jump drive.
Although we have not yet run the searches on BCDC's server for responsive emails, we expect that those searches will identify both disclosable emails and emails that are exempt from disclosure under the PRA. Specifically, given that we interpret your requests to include emails from the identified individuals in which BCDC staff other than Mr. Goldzband, Ms. Klein, or Ms. Njuguna are copied, we expect that certain emails will be exempt from disclosure as privileged under the attorney-client privilege or the attorney work-product doctrine. Government Code section 6254(k). To the extent any of your requests include records that are exempt from disclosure under the PRA as privileged, they are hereby denied by me.
Finally, as to your two requests calling for text messages, I have asked each of the concerned individuals and have been informed that: (1) Ms. Njuguna has no text message with Mr. Goldzband; (2) Mr. Goldzband has no text messages with Ms. Njuguna or Commissioner Scharff; and (3) Commissioner Scharff has no text messages with Mr. Goldzband. In addition, although not included in your first PRA request, Ms. Klein has informed me that she has no text messages with Mr. Goldzband.
Please contact me if you have any questions or if you do not agree to pay the cost of the programming and data extraction to perform the searches on BCDC's server for responsive emails. Please note that we will require payment of that cost before providing the responsive documents from the searches.
Regards, Marc
-----
Marc A. Zeppetello
Chief Counsel
San Francisco Bay Conservation
and Development Commission
375 Beale St., 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
Telephone: (415) 352-3655
marc.zeppetello@bcdc.ca.gov<mailto:marc.zeppetello@bcdc.ca.gov>
From: Robbie Powelson
Thank you Mr. Zeppetello,
I am prepared to bear the cost of the query. I choose the PDF format, and that all of the documents go through the MuckRock system.
One point of clarification, please include emails that Mr. Goldzband has sent to all Commissioners, such as the emails Mr. Goldzband routinely sends to all Commissioners following each Commission meeting summarizing the items considered and actions taken at the meeting, within the requested time frame only if on those dates "Richardson Bay" or "Union Point" were parts of the routine update. Otherwise, I am satisfied by your response at this time.
Thank you for your cooperation,
Robbie Powelson
From: Bay Conservation And Development Commission
Dear Mr. Powelson,
This is a further response to your three Public Records Act requests, which are described in my initial response provided by email on May 17th (see below).
As explained in my initial response, to identify all responsive emails involving Mr. Goldzband, Ms. Klein, Ms. Njuguna, and Commissioner Scharff, it was necessary to perform searches on BCDC's server. In addition, we requested that Commissioner Scharff provide responsive emails between himself and Mr. Goldzband.
We have received Commissioner Scharff's responsive emails (i.e., the emails that he provided and that are not on BCDC's server) and, after sending this message, I will upload a pdf file containing those emails to the muckrock.com link (or account) that you provided. There is no charge for these records.
As discussed in my initial response, you are required to bear the costs of the computer services for the programming and data extraction, in the amount of $76.19, necessary to identify and retrieve the responsive emails on BCDC's server by performing searches on the server. Government Code section 6253.9(b). After you agreed, in your May 18th email (see below), to bear those costs, we performed the searches. Therefore, please submit a check or money order, in the amount of $76.19, payable to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Once we receive payment, we will upload the responsive emails from the searches of BCDC's server to the muckrock.com link (or account) that you provided. Please note that those emails will be provided in their "native" format, as .pst files, not as pdf documents.
Thank you,
Marc
-----
Marc A. Zeppetello
Chief Counsel
San Francisco Bay Conservation
and Development Commission
375 Beale St., 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
Telephone: (415) 352-3655
marc.zeppetello@bcdc.ca.gov<mailto:marc.zeppetello@bcdc.ca.gov>
From: Bay Conservation And Development Commission
Please see email sent today at 4:51 pm (Pacific time) to Mr. Powelson and to the Muckrock email address provided by this service. Additional responsive documents have been identified and retrieved and will be provided upon receipt of payment of necessary costs incurred for computer programming and data extraction services to perform searches for responsive emails on BCDC's server.
From: Bay Conservation And Development Commission
The following message was sent to Mr. Powelson on May 17, 2021. It provided an initial set of responsive documents, and also explained that Mr. Powelson must bear the reasonable costs of the computer services for the programming and data extraction, in the amount of $76.19. He had agreed to pay those fees, but he never remitted payment. The case is now closed.
Dear Mr. Powelson,
This is a further response to your three Public Records Act requests, which are described in my initial response provided by email on May 17th (see below).
As explained in my initial response, to identify all responsive emails involving Mr. Goldzband, Ms. Klein, Ms. Njuguna, and Commissioner Scharff, it was necessary to perform searches on BCDC's server. In addition, we requested that Commissioner Scharff provide responsive emails between himself and Mr. Goldzband.
We have received Commissioner Scharff's responsive emails (i.e., the emails that he provided and that are not on BCDC's server) and, after sending this message, I will upload a pdf file containing those emails to the muckrock.com link (or account) that you provided. There is no charge for these records.
As discussed in my initial response, you are required to bear the costs of the computer services for the programming and data extraction, in the amount of $76.19, necessary to identify and retrieve the responsive emails on BCDC's server by performing searches on the server. Government Code section 6253.9(b). After you agreed, in your May 18th email (see below), to bear those costs, we performed the searches. Therefore, please submit a check or money order, in the amount of $76.19, payable to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Once we receive payment, we will upload the responsive emails from the searches of BCDC's server to the muckrock.com link (or account) that you provided. Please note that those emails will be provided in their "native" format, as .pst files, not as pdf documents.
Thank you,
Marc
-----
Marc A. Zeppetello
Chief Counsel
San Francisco Bay Conservation
and Development Commission
375 Beale St., 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
Telephone: (415) 352-3655
marc.zeppetello@bcdc.ca.gov<mailto:marc.zeppetello@bcdc.ca.gov>
Files
pages