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June 5, 2020
3125 Tecumseh River Rd
Lansing, MI 48906
David J. Price, Chairman
Lansing Board of Water & Light
1201 S. Washington Ave
P.O. Box 13007
Lansing, Michigan 48910-1650
Dear Mr. Price,
I would like to appeal the denial of a FOIA request.
My initial request was sent by email on January 14, 2020 to
foiarequests@lbwl.com. I asked for the following information
for all BWL employees who were employed during the 2019
calendar year:
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Name
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Position
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Department
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Hire date
·
Termination date
·
Salary/hourly rate
·
Total earnings for 2019
·
Regular earnings
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Overtime earnings
·
Any other available components of total earnings other than
regular and overtime
I asked that the information be provided in a digital file.
I got no response. I sent two follow-up email requests, one
January 27 with a copy to Communications Director Stephen
Serkaian and the other February 6 directly to General
Counsel Mark Matus, and still got no response. Thinking my
emails were not getting through, I put my request in a
letter mailed February 17. No response. On March 3, I used
the contact form on the BWL website to repeat my request,
asking that it be forwarded to the BWL FOIA coordinator.
That finally got a response in a March 11 email from
Assistant FOIA Coordinator Elissa McDaniels. It said
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Your request is denied because your request asks for
a report in a specific format that does not exist.
Furthermore, pursuant to MCL 15.233 (4), FOIA does
not require a public body to make a report of
information. Pursuant to MCL 15.235(5)(b), this
response constitutes a certification that the public
record(s) requested do not exist. |
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On March 12, I emailed Elissa saying “This
is a follow-up to my previous FOIA request, but you may
consider it a new request” and I
listed the same set of information in the original request.
I added
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Previously, I asked for the information in a digital
file. That is the media I prefer, but if that is not
possible, I would accept part of the information in
a digital file and part in a paper document. Or
if none is available in a digital file, I will
accept all of the information in a paper file or
files. And if any item of information on the list is
not available at all, I will accept the remaining
items. In other words, I will accept whatever is
available in any form, but I prefer digital files.
If provided in multiple files, please include
employee name in each file. |
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On May 14, I emailed Elissa with a copy to Mark Matus saying
“Elissa,
you have not responded to this FOIA request and it has been
over 2 months. Please explain.” I got no response.
Mr. Price, I am asking that the information be provided in
whatever form is available, preferably in a digital file.
Sincerely,
Steven R. Harry
517-730-2638
stevenrharry@gmail.com
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