The City of Pensacola has refused our request for additional information to clarify our original DROP request. On Saturday, we asked: “Please tell us what records are kept on DROP so that we can properly clarify our request – what forms are completed by the employees, what records are kept on the projected DROP accruals, how are these records maintained electronically, and the reports on DROP provided to city management. Provide us one or two completed examples of each so that we can clarify our request and avoid you having to create any public records. ”
This is the response we received today:
08/16/2016
Publisher Richard Outzen
RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of 8/3/2016 Reference # W001453-080316 for the following information:
The DROP database for City, Fire and Police pensions.
Dear Richard Outzen:
This letter responds to your public records request to the City of Pensacola, dated and received on 8/3/2016.
As you are aware, the City is not obligated to provide information relating to public records, nor is the City required to create new records. Chapter 119, Florida Statutes, requires only that an agency provide a right of access to inspect and copy the agency’s existing public records.
As I explained in my last email, the City does not maintain a separate database for participants in DROP. We have twice requested clarification from you, as well as offered to create a spreadsheet with whatever DROP information you seek, should we have it. You have twice refused to clarify your request, and you have declined our offer to create the public record. Given this, we cannot fulfill your request for the “DROP database,†as we have no responsive records for the “database.â€
Furthermore, if you would like, we can provide you additional copies of the responsive record containing DROP participants’ names and departments, which we provided you on August 2, 2016 (Reference No. W001437-072516).
Sincerely,
Matt Shaud
Public Records Coordinator
City of Pensacola
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This is like talking to a wall.
-Inweekly asks for DROP database from the state and city. State provides information. City does not.
-The City asks for clarification and offers to create a public record (spreadsheet) once I clarify.
-We ask for information on how the city accounts for DROP – forms, calculations, reports, etc.-so that we can clarify the request.
-The City says we “declined” their offer to create a spreadsheet because we didn’t clarify.
-The City closes out our request because “we have no responsive records for the ‘database.'”
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Inweekly has filed a complaint with the State Attorney’s Office- something we had hoped to avoid.