OIG No. 20-22: McKinney Public Records ReportJoseph M. Centorino, Inspector General
FINAL REPORT
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
RE:
File
Joseph Centorino, Inspector General
August 6, 2020
McKinney Public Records Report
OIG No. 20-22
INTRODUCTION:
The OIG received a complaint from Mr. David McKinney, a Miami Beach resident and
architectural historian, regarding the proposed demolition of the South Shore Community
Center and the City's proposed plan to build a new Fire Station at the site. The Fire
Station is being funded with G.O. Bond dollars and will serve the South Beach area. Mr.
McKinney expressed concern that the demolition of the South Shore Community Center
would endanger programs for underserved populations and result in the destruction of a
historically significant building which was designed by Morris Lapidus. In his effort to
prevent this outcome, Mr. McKinney made a series of public records requests for office
communications related to the City's discussions, planning, or proposals to demolish the
South Shore Community Center. Àccording to Mr. McKinney, the cost to acquire these
public records was prohibitive. He contacted the OIG to complain that the cost of
transparency was punitive and had prevented him from pursuing his belief that the
decision-making process with respect to the Fire Station was not done within public view.
FINDINGS:
The OIG contacted Ms. Carmen Hernandez, Office Associate IV, in the City Clerk's Office
to discuss the public records request process. Ms. Hernandez advised that the City pays
a retired employee $40.00/hour to perform the records searches. If the emails require a
review by the Legal Department, the reviewer's time is billed at a flat rate which reflects
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the employee's base salary and benefits whose normal scope of duties includes this
function. Before email records are released, the person making the request must pay 50%
of the total cost. The emails are not sent to the Legal Department until this money is
received.
Mr. McKinney's original request resulted in 94,000 emails. When he narrowed the search,
it was broken down into five individual requests. Requests one, three and four resulted
in 66 emails. The City's contracted retired employee spent 5.5 hours collecting this
information. Because these emails did not require the legal department to conduct any
review, the cost, $200.00, reflected the time needed to compile the emails minus the first
30 minutes for which there is no charge.
The second search resulted in 1,036 emails. The cost for these emails included a special
service charge based on the labor cost of the Assistant City Attorney who reviewed the
emails for any information that would be confidential or exempt from the Florida Public
Records Law. In total, it required five hours to conduct the search and an estimated 10
hours to review the 1036 emails. The cost for this search totaled $555.80.
The fifth search yielded 1509 emails. The contracted retiree spent five hours conducting
the search and the Assistant City Attorney estimated 15 hours for the review. The total
for this request was $733. 70.
The City's 2017 policy, Public Records Processing Policy, adopted pursuant to City
Resolution 2017-30124, states that "the City shall charge a "special service charge" for
"extensive use of information technology resources or extensive clerical or supervisory
assistance by personnel of the agency involved, or both." (See Policy at Section Ill (B)).
The service charge shall be reasonable and based on the costs incurred for the extensive
use of information technology resources or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance.
Extensive is defined as labor of ½ hour or more which will be charged at the flat rate of
the employee's base salary and employee benefits whose normal scope of duties include
performing the function."
CONCLUSION:
The City worked with Mr. McKinney to accommodate his public records requests and
reduce the costs. The City's charges were in alignment with Chapter 119, Florida
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Statutes, and were reasonable for the extensive hours of work involved. The OIG spoke
with Mr. McKinney about this conclusion. He was satisfied with the conclusion that the
City was not acting punitively and appreciated the OIG's involvement. The OIG would
like to thank Ms. Hernandez for her attention to Mr. McKinney's request and her
as is ance in trying to facilitate a positive result for him.
OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL, City of Miami Beach
1130 Washington Avenue, 6" Floor, Miami Beach, FL 33139
Tel: 305.673.7020 • Fax: 305.587.2401 • Hotline: 786.897.1111
Email: CityofMiamiBeachOIG@miamibeachfl.gov
Website: www.mbinspectorgeneral.com
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