Tennessee Health Department: Covid Farm Outbreak
| Submitted | July 22, 2020 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Kent Hoover
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Tennessee Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Email correspondence, and all underlying documentation contained therein, between May 1, 2020, and the date this request is ultimately fulfilled sent to, from or copied to Vicki Carr and/or Lisa Piercey and/or Robin Mackey containing any of the following non-case-sensitive key-strings: “farm*”; “Henderson”; “migrant”; "Schwalls"
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 7 business days, as the statute requires.
Please note that I am a citizen of Tennessee, and am using MuckRock's services to help manage and track my request.
Sincerely,
Kent Hoover
From: Department of Health
Thank you for contacting the Tennessee Department of Health. By copy of this email, I am sharing your email with the appropriate team member to address your inquiry.
Best regards.
-
~WRD158
From: Department of Health
Good afternoon Kent.
Your email has been shared with me for response. Tennessee’s Public Records Act provides that “[a]ll state, county and municipal records shall, at all times during business hours…be open for personal inspection by any citizen of this state, and those in charge of the records shall not refuse such right of inspection to any citizen, unless otherwise provided by state law." Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503(a)(2)(A).
Please submit proof of Tennessee citizenship to our office to proceed with this request.
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Shelley Walker | Director
Office of Communication & Media Relations
Andrew Johnson Tower, 5th Floor
710 James Robertson Parkway, Nashville, TN 37243
p. 615-253-5184
Shelley.Walker@tn.gov<mailto:Shelley.Walker@tn.gov>
tn.gov/health<https://www.tn.gov/health>
Connect with TDH on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/TNDeptofHealth> and Twitter<https://twitter.com/TNDeptofHealth> @TNDeptofHealth!
Our Mission – To protect, promote and improve the health and prosperity of people in Tennessee.
From: Muckrock Staff
Hello,
Mr. Hoover's proof of residency is attached. Thank you for your help with this request!
MuckRock
[attachment redacted]
From: Department of Health
Mr. Hoover,
Please consider this email our acknowledgement of your request. We anticipate your request will take a considerable amount of time to complete. Due to the nature of this request and the extraordinary demands of our work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we may require additional time to provide our response to your request, and anticipate that records will be produced in installments. The records request will go through the date of the request, July 22, 2020.
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Shelley Walker | Director
Office of Communication & Media Relations
Andrew Johnson Tower, 5th Floor
710 James Robertson Parkway, Nashville, TN 37243
p. 615-253-5184
Shelley.Walker@tn.gov<mailto:Shelley.Walker@tn.gov>
tn.gov/health<https://www.tn.gov/health>
Connect with TDH on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/TNDeptofHealth> and Twitter<https://twitter.com/TNDeptofHealth> @TNDeptofHealth!
Our Mission – To protect, promote and improve the health and prosperity of people in Tennessee.
From: Department of Health
Mr. Hoover, upon further review, we can inform you your request will go through Aug. 24, 2020, the date on which we confirmed your Tennessee residency. Under the Open Records Act, a “public record” means all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, microfilms, electronic data processing files and output, films, sound recordings, or other materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any government entity. TCA 10-7-503(a)(1)(i) [emphasis added]. The Open Records Act does not require the Department to produce records in the future, beyond the date of the request.
In addition, the department will provide an estimated cost to produce these records. After you receive the cost estimate, please confirm that you agree to pay for the copies so we can proceed with your request. The Public Records Act states, “If a person makes a request for copies of a public record and, after copies have been produced, the person fails to pay to the governmental entity the cost for producing such copies, the governmental entity is not required to comply with any public records request from the person until the person pays for such copies; provided, that the person was provided with an estimated cost for producing the copies in accordance with subdivision (a)(7)(C)(ii) prior to producing the copies and the person agreed to pay the estimated cost for such copies.” T.C.A. 10-7-503 (a)(7)(A)(vii)(b).
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Shelley Walker | Director
Office of Communication & Media Relations
Andrew Johnson Tower, 5th Floor
710 James Robertson Parkway, Nashville, TN 37243
p. 615-253-5184
Shelley.Walker@tn.gov<mailto:Shelley.Walker@tn.gov>
tn.gov/health<https://www.tn.gov/health>
Connect with TDH on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/TNDeptofHealth> and Twitter<https://twitter.com/TNDeptofHealth> @TNDeptofHealth!
Our Mission – To protect, promote and improve the health and prosperity of people in Tennessee.
