EMAILS AND RECORDS REQUEST POLICY JULY 2011 RESEARCH REQUESTS FOR E -MAILS
Policy:
To provide guidelines for processing Public Records Requests of employees' e-mails
pursuant to Chapter 119, Florida Statutes.
General Procedure:
1. The request must be entered on the City Clerk's Office's Public Records Requests
Log and forwarded to IT.
2. The request must include the following criteria.
a. Name of employee or employees - e -mail addresses
b. Time frame for the request
c. Subject matter or key words for the search
3 IT processes the request and provides CD of all the hits found during the search as
per the criteria.
4. IT provides CD and instruction for the employee to check for e-mails included that
should be removed The following e-mails should be removed.
a. Any "personal" or "exempt" information should be excluded.
b. Any information included in the "non- personal" e-mails as per Florida Statute
119 -071, should be removed
All records which are not personal and /or not exempt are public records and must be
provided to the requesting party within a reasonable time.
Procedure for employee reviewing CD:
1 Employee downloads CD on his PC, as per the instructions provided by IT, and takes
a snapshot of the screen showing the number of e-mails on the CD.
2. Create two folders; "Exempt" and "Non- Exempt ".
3. Employee reviews each e-mail and separates the "exempt" and the "non- exempt"
4. After completing the review, the employee takes a snapshot of both folders showing
the total number of e-mails in each folder. The total should be equal to the total on the
first snapshot when the CD was downloaded on the PC.
5 Folder with all the "exempt" e-mails must be reviewed by the employee's supervisor.
Procedure for employee's supervisor reviewing "exempt" emails:
1. Supervisor takes a snapshot of the folder with the total number of "exempt" emails.
2. Supervisor creates two folders "exempt" and "non- exempt ".
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3. Supervisor reviews all emails and decides if they should be exempt or not.
4. After completing the review the supervisor takes a snapshot of both folders showing
the number of e-mails in each folder. The total should be equal to the original number
of "exempt" e-mails sent to him by the employee.
The requesting party will receive the e-mails from the employee's "non- exempt' folder
and also any e-mails that the supervisor decided were "non- exempt ". The total number
of e-mails on the "exempt" and "non- exempt" should agree with the total of e-mails on
the original CD.
? MIAMI BEACH
(NFORMAT(ON TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM
GLADYS ACOSTA, Information Technology Director
TO
cc: , Department Director
FROM. Gladys Acosta, Information Technology Department Director
DATE August _ , 2006
SUBJECT Public Records Request Pursuant to Chapter 119, Florida Statutes.
This is to advise that a public records request pursuant to Chapter 119, of the Florida
Statutes has been made with regard to all e-mails sent and received by you between the
dates of to
Attached hereto is a CD disk which contains all of your a -mails from this time frame. Please
review all of the e-mails contained on the CD and put into a separate folder labeled
"personal" only those e-mails which are "private" or "personal" and which were not "made or
received pursuant to law or ordinance" nor "created or received 'in connection with official
business' of the City or 'in connection with the transaction of official business' by the City."
State of Florida v. City of Clearwater 863 So. 2d 149 (Fla. 2003).
In addition to "personal" e- mails, other information is exempt from disclosure as set forth in
section 119.071, Fla. Stat. (Copy attached.) If any information contained in your non -
personal e-mails concerns "exempt" material set forth 119.071, Fla. Stat., please also put
this information into a separate folder labeled "exempt."
Any "personal" or "exempt" information which has been placed into the separate folders
must be verified by your Department as such and will not be released unless it is determined
not to be "personal" or "exempt." However, all records which are not personal and /or not
exempt are public records and must be provided to the requesting party within a reasonable
time.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter
Attachment: CD Disk
We are committed to providing excellent public service and safety to all who live work and play in our vibrant, tropical historic community
City of Miami Beach
Public Records Request Policy
Policy:
To provide a central place where the citizens can make public records requests.
All Public Records Requests either in person or by mail received by other departments
will be forwarded to the City Clerk's Office for processing.
Procedure:
1. The City Clerk's Office personnel will write the Research Request Form and will
enter it on the Research Request Log. The request number will be written on the
upper right hand corner of the request form.
2. The City Clerk's Office personnel will e-mail the request to the specific
department/individual that has these records for processing.
3. The receiving department will review the request and notify the City Clerk's Office
of the estimated time for the research to be completed and the estimated costs if
possible.
4. The City Clerk's Office will notify the citizen as to an approximate time and cost
for his /her request.
5. The receiving department will either forward the records and the costs to be
charged to the City Clerk's Office (written MCR) or contact the citizen to come
and view the records.
6. The receiving department will notify the City Clerk's Office when the requested is
completed.
7. The City Clerk's personnel will close the request.
Cost:
1. There will be a $0.15 charge per copy.
2. Labor for 3 hours or more will be charged at the flat hourly rat of the employee
performing the function Do not include fringe benefit charges.
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City of Miami Beach
Public Records Request Policy
"Every person who has custody of a public record shall permit the record to be
inspected and examined by any person desiring to do so, at any reasonable time,
under reasonable conditions and under supervision by the custodian of the
public record or the custodian's designee." Florida Statute, Chapter 119.07(1)(a)
Policy:
Public records shall be inspected and examined by any person desiring to do so, at any
reasonable time under reasonable conditions, and under departmental supervision.
It is the policy of the City of Miami Beach that all public records shall be open for
personal inspection by any person; Florida Statute, Chapter 119.07 addresses
exemptions to Public Records Access.
Public Records Requests must be completed in a timely manner. The Florida Supreme
Court has stated that the only delay in producing records permitted under Florida
Statute Chapter 119 "is the limited reasonable time allowed the custodian to retrieve the
record and delete those portions of the record the custodian asserts are exempt."
Requests received for Police information shall be forwarded to the Police Department.
Requests received from any of the collective bargaining units shall be forwarded to the
office of Labor Relations.
Each City Department shall assign a "Records Custodian" and a backup "Records
Custodian" to interface with the City Clerk's office and coordinate the departmental
retrieval of Public Records. If a departmental Records Custodian is not assigned it will
be assumed that the Department Director and Assistant Department Director will
assume the role.
Procedure:
1. It shall be the initial contact person's responsibility to ask the requestor of a public
records request to complete a "Research Request" form on the City web page
( http : / /www.miamibeachfl.gov /newcity /library /clerk- research.PDF.) If the requestor
refuses or fails to fully complete the form, the contact person shall complete the
form. The contact person shall forward the completed request form to the City
Clerk's office (with a copy of any written public records request) either electronically
to researchrequest( miamibeachfl.gov or in person.
The transmittal of the completed request form to the City Clerk's office is for tracking
purposes only. The department maintaining the requested records is responsible for
responding to the request.
2. Upon receipt of the "Research Request" form the City Clerk's office will assign a
request number which will be written on the upper right hand corner of the request
form and email the information to the specific department's "Record Custodian." All
future correspondence regarding the request should reference the request number.
City of Miami Beach
Public Records Request Policy
3. The City Clerk's office will maintain a log for all research requests with the following
information: date request made; requestor's name, phone number, fax number and
email, item requested, name of person that the request is assigned to and
completed by, results of research, and status.
4. The department's "Record Custodian" will notify the requestor of the estimated time
to process the request and cost of the request. (cost calculations below)
* It is important to make sure that the requestor is kept informed regarding the status
of the research request.
* Depending on the estimated cost, a deposit may be requested for extensive
research requests.
5. The department "Record Custodian" will advise the City Clerk's office once the
request has been completed and the Clerk's office will update the Request Log and
close the request.
Cost:
Copies to be charge If total is $1.00 or more:
• .15 cents per one -sided copy for duplicated copies of not more than 14 inches by
8 inches;
• An additional .05 cents for each two -sided copy;
• For all other copies, the actual cost of duplication of the public record;
• $1 per copy for a certified copy of a public record;
• Storage retrieval fees must not be included.
. T
Labor to be charged for 1 ur or more:
Pursuant to State Stat 119.07
• If the nature or volume of public records requested to be inspected or copied
pursuant to this subsection is such as to require extensive use of information
technology resources or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance by personnel of ,
the agency involved, or both, the agency may charge, in addition to the actual cost
of duplication, a special service charge, which shall be reasonable and shall be
based on the cost incurred for such extensive use of information technology
resources or the labor cost of the personnel providing the service that is actually
incurred by the agency or attributable to the agency for the clerical and supervisory
assistance required, or both.
For the purpose of public records requests made to the City of Miami Beach,
the term "extensive" shall be defined as labor of 1 hour or more which will be
charged at the flat rate of the employee (fringe benefits not included) whose
normal scope of duties include performing the function.
Questions regarding any portion of this policy should be directed to the City Clerk's
office at (305) - 741 1.
Reviewed by: e{ucky-- Date: 1 1223- l ZOOS
City Clerk
Approved by: j D ate: 1 1 7 1 °S-
Merger
Adoption date: 1128/2005 Amendment date:
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