Shelby County Health Department Fortune 500 MOUs
| Submitted | July 8, 2014 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Carlton Purvis
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to Tennessee's Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Copies of all memorandums of understanding between the Shelby County Health Department and local Fortune 500s including AutoZone, FedEx and International Paper. The existence of these these MOUs was acknowledged by Shelby County Health Department Risk Communications Supervisor Kasia Smith-Alexander after the October 2012 door-to-door medication delivery exercise.
I also request that fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.
In the event that fees cannot be waived, 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 7 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Carlton Purvis
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 8, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thank you for your help.
From: Smith, Megan
Mr. Purvis,
I am in receipt of your public records request regarding memorandums of understanding between the Shelby County Health Department and local Fortune 500 companies.
Your correspondence indicates you are a citizen of Massachusetts, not Tennessee. Pursuant to the Tennessee Public Records Act, codified by Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-101, et seq., Shelby County Government's records are not open to inspection by individuals who are not Tennessee citizens. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-501(a)(2)(A)("[a]ll state, county, and municipal records ... shall at all times, during business hours, be open ... for inspection by any citizen of Tennessee"); see also Ray v. Stanton, C.A. No. 88-285-II, 1989 WL 14135, *3 (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 24, 1989)("we hold that the provisions of the Public Records Act are available only for any citizen of the State of Tennessee"); and Tenn. Op. Atty. Gen. No. 01-132, 2001 WL 1048622 (Tenn. A.G. August 22, 2001)("persons who are not citizens of Tennessee can be denied access to public records under the Tennessee Public Records Act"). Due to the fact that you are not a Tennessee citizen, your public records request is respectfully denied.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Megan J. Smith
Assistant County Attorney
Shelby County Attorney's Office
160 N. Main St., Suite 950
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 222.2100 (office)
(901) 222.2103 (direct)
(901) 222.2105 (fax)
megan.smith@shelbycountytn.gov <mailto:megan.smith@shelbycountytn.gov>
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient(s), or the employee or agent responsible for delivery of this message to the intended recipient(s), you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this e-mail message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please immediately notify the sender and delete this e-mail message from your computer.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 8, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thank you for your help.
From: Smith, Megan
Please note, your request was denied on July 29, 2014.
Email 7.29.2014:
"Your correspondence indicates you are a citizen of Massachusetts, not Tennessee. Pursuant to the Tennessee Public Records Act, codified by Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-101, et seq., Shelby County Government's records are not open to inspection by individuals who are not Tennessee citizens..."
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.
Regards,
Megan J. Smith
Assistant County Attorney
Shelby County Attorney's Office
160 N. Main St., Suite 950
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 222.2100 (office)
(901) 222.2103 (direct)
(901) 222.2105 (fax)
megan.smith@shelbycountytn.gov
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient(s), or the employee or agent responsible for delivery of this message to the intended recipient(s), you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this e-mail message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please immediately notify the sender and delete this e-mail message from your computer.
From: Carlton Purvis
Ms. Smith,
I am journalist and a citizen of Tennessee and live here in Shelby County. The organization I am working with on this topic is based in Massachusetts.
Please consider actually asking residents if they are Tennessee residents before denying requests and please let me know if you have an estimate on when this one will be fulfilled.
Thank you,
Carlton Purvis
From: Smith, Megan
Mr. Purvis,
As a Tennessee citizen, you are entitled to Public Records maintained by governmental entities pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. §10-7-501 et. seq.
To begin, please note that your request must be sufficiently detailed to allow the records custodian to identify those documents you seek to review. Tenn. Code Ann. §10-7-503(a)(7)(B). Specifically, please provide this office with the names of the companies and dates relevant to your request.
Furthermore, please provide this office proof of Tennessee citizenship in the form of government-issued photo identification which lists your Tennessee residence. Tenn. Code Ann. §10-7-503(a)(7)(A).
Finally, please be advised that Shelby County Government assesses a fee of .15 cents per page for black & white copies and .50 cents per page for color copies. If it is determined that the fee applies to your response, you will be notified as soon as that determination is made.
Upon receipt of the aforementioned information, we will gladly begin to process your request.
Regards,
Megan J. Smith
Assistant County Attorney
Shelby County Attorney's Office
160 N. Main St., Suite 950
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 222.2100 (office)
(901) 222.2103 (direct)
(901) 222.2105 (fax)
megan.smith@shelbycountytn.gov
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient(s), or the employee or agent responsible for delivery of this message to the intended recipient(s), you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this e-mail message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please immediately notify the sender and delete this e-mail message from your computer.
From: Carlton Purvis
Ms. Smith,
The names of the companies are included on the original request. They are: AutoZone, FedEx and International Paper. Please include ALL MOUs between these companies and the County Health Department created between January 1, 1950 through August 13, 2014.
As mentioned in the original request, the existence of these these MOUs was acknowledged by Shelby County Health Department Risk Communications Supervisor Kasia Smith-Alexander after the October 2012 door-to-door medication delivery exercise.
A copy of my Tennessee-issued identification will be sent separately. Please let me know when you have received it.
Thank you,
Carlton
From: Carlton Purvis
Ms. Smith,
Can you confirm that you have received a copy of my license?
Thank you,
Carlton
From: Smith, Megan
Mr. Purvis,
I am in receipt of your request referenced above and have processed it
as a Public Records Request to the appropriate department for response.
Please be advised that Shelby County Government assesses a fee of .15
cents per page for black & white copies and .50 cents per page for color
copies. If it is determined that the fee applies to your response, you
will be notified as soon as that determination is made.
The records you have requested appear to be voluminous in nature and
will require searches of archival records. Accordingly, this response
will take more than the traditional 7 day response time. I will keep you
apprised of a time frame and updates as they are presented to me.
If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me.
** Attached file(s):
RE: Freedom of Information Request: Shelby County Health Department Fo
(00146274.msg)
Regards,
Megan J. Smith
Assistant County Attorney
Shelby County Attorney's Office
160 N. Main St., Suite 950
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 222.2100 (office)
(901) 222.2103 (direct)
(901) 222.2105 (fax)
megan.smith@shelbycountytn.gov <mailto:megan.smith@shelbycountytn.gov>
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments,
may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you
are not the intended recipient(s), or the employee or agent responsible
for delivery of this message to the intended recipient(s), you are
hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this
e-mail message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
message in error, please immediately notify the sender and delete this
e-mail message from your computer.
-
RE: Freedom of Information Request: Shelby County Health Department Fo
From: Shipman, Janet
Megan,
We received the records from the Emergency Preparedness program, and I have initially reviewed the names of the agencies with MOUs for PODs. I did not find any companies that I would consider Fortune 500 companies. The only one that came close was Morgan Keegan some years ago and then they refused to sign the MOU.
Can someone get me a list of Fortune 500 companies? All I saw were government-related agencies and that sort of partner.
When I know how deep the Fortune 500 goes, I might be surprised, but I seriously doubt any of these groups qualifies.
There is another issue here, and that is whether this information might be helpful to terrorists planning locations to interrupt the distribution of medication during an emergency. I will restrict my answer to address the question he raised about Fortune 500 businesses, but I will not release the names of the other MOU partners since that is not responsive to his question.
Get me a list to compare the 500 companies, and I will be certain of who's who.
Janet
From: Smith, Megan
Mr. Purivs,
I have processed your public records request identified above and can
report the following:
I understand your request to be seeking documentation of Memorandum's of
Understanding between the Shelby County Health Department and FedEx,
Autozone and International Paper from January 1, 1950 to the present.
After forwarding your request to the appropriate offices, it has been
determined there are no public records that are responsive to your
request.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards,
Megan J. Smith
Assistant County Attorney
Shelby County Attorney's Office
160 N. Main St., Suite 950
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 222.2100 (office)
(901) 222.2103 (direct)
(901) 222.2105 (fax)
megan.smith@shelbycountytn.gov <mailto:megan.smith@shelbycountytn.gov>
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments,
may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you
are not the intended recipient(s), or the employee or agent responsible
for delivery of this message to the intended recipient(s), you are
hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this
e-mail message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
message in error, please immediately notify the sender and delete this
e-mail message from your computer.
From: Carlton Purvis
Megan,
So would it be safe for me to report that the county was lying about the MOUs with those companies regarding PODs back in 2012? Because the county said they existed then, but now you're telling me they don't exist. Or are one of you wrong? I know some companies declined to sign, but I don't know which ones. But from what it looks like three of the major companies here are among those. Can you give me some insight on why I'm getting conflicting information from two different county officials. I just want to make sure I have everything correct. I'll try and give you a call today.
Thanks,
Carlton