from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: Michael Pratt <[email protected]>
cc: Phil Harris <[email protected]>,
Jim Fatland <[email protected]>
date: Mar 11, 2021, 2:58 PM
subject: Re: FW: Records Request: (November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
Hello Mr Pratt,
I apologize for the delayed response to your email above (from Feb 19, 2021,10:50 AM).
I have made every attempt to clarify the requests [I’ve copied one of my previous emails, see below]. You should have all the necessary information you need to proceed to process the requests.
For reference, those 3 requests are:
(November 2020) Request for NC Law Enforcement misconduct findings 10/30/2010 – present
(November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Parking lot UDO/City Ordinance info as of 11/11/20
And the request I’m replying to now, for:
(November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
At this time I’m going to mark the request(s) as “Denied” on my website. It is unfortunate that you are unable to process a citizen request under NC Public Records Law, but should you or anyone else at the City of Brevard decide to fulfill the request(s) in the future I’ll be happy to reopen them at that time.
If you do reach back out, however, I’d ask that you please do so on the corresponding email thread that applies to each request — Each request was sent in separately, and should not be treated as “1 request”.
Thank you!
——————
Previous email copied for your reference:
“ To: Michael Pratt <[email protected]>
cc: Phil Harris <[email protected]>,
Jim Fatland <[email protected]>
date: Jan 19, 2021, 1:03 PM
Mr. Pratt,
North Carolina government entities are provided certain protections and exemptions under NCGS 132, and Sunshine Request supports the rights of government entities to utilize those protections as appropriate.
However, the requirements you are instituting on my requests are not specified under NCGS 132 or any other statute of the State of North Carolina.
The City of Brevard is required to provide public records that are responsive to a valid public records request under NCGS 132.
NC Public Records law does not require that an individual provide their name or any other personal information to submit a public records request. As a courtesy, I have provided my name for your records, but I am not required to do so under NCGS 132.
NC Public Records law does not allow government entities to deny valid public records requests because they have been previously provided to other parties.
NC Public Records law does not allow government entities to deny valid public records requests based on the relationship of the requester to any other individual. All of the requests you have received from this email address are made directly by myself, Patrick Conant, to the City of Brevard.
I am requesting that you fulfill these public records requests, or cite a specific exemption under North Carolina Public Records law to deny fulfilling these requests.
Thank you for your assistance.
Patrick Conant
Sunshine Request “
from: Michael Pratt <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
cc: Phil Harris <[email protected]>,
Jim Fatland <[email protected]>
date: Feb 19, 2021, 10:50 AM
subject: RE: FW: Records Request: (November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
Good morning, Patrick. Please refer to my email of December 16, which states the City’s position.
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: Michael Pratt <[email protected]>
cc: Phil Harris <[email protected]>,
Jim Fatland <[email protected]>
date: Feb 18, 2021, 3:46 PM
subject: Re: FW: Records Request: (November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
Following up on the email above from Jan 19, 2021, 1:03 PM.
Please let me know when the request will be completed.
Thank you.
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: Michael Pratt <[email protected]>
cc: Phil Harris <[email protected]>,
Jim Fatland <[email protected]>
date: Jan 27, 2021, 3:35 PM
subject: Re: FW: Records Request: (November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
Good afternoon,
Following up on the email above. Please let me know when the request will be completed.
Thank you.
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: Michael Pratt <[email protected]>
cc: Phil Harris <[email protected]>,
Jim Fatland <[email protected]>
date: Jan 19, 2021, 1:03 PM
subject: Re: FW: Records Request: (November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
Mr. Pratt,
North Carolina government entities are provided certain protections and exemptions under NCGS 132, and Sunshine Request supports the rights of government entities to utilize those protections as appropriate.
However, the requirements you are instituting on my requests are not specified under NCGS 132 or any other statute of the State of North Carolina.
The City of Brevard is required to provide public records that are responsive to a valid public records request under NCGS 132.
NC Public Records law does not require that an individual provide their name or any other personal information to submit a public records request. As a courtesy, I have provided my name for your records, but I am not required to do so under NCGS 132.
NC Public Records law does not allow government entities to deny valid public records requests because they have been previously provided to other parties.
NC Public Records law does not allow government entities to deny valid public records requests based on the relationship of the requester to any other individual. All of the requests you have received from this email address are made directly by myself, Patrick Conant, to the City of Brevard.
I am requesting that you fulfill these public records requests, or cite a specific exemption under North Carolina Public Records law to deny fulfilling these requests.
Thank you for your assistance.
Patrick Conant
Sunshine Request
from: Michael Pratt <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
cc: Phil Harris <[email protected]>,
Jim Fatland <[email protected]>
date: Dec 16, 2020, 11:31 AM
subject: RE: FW: Records Request: (November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
Good morning, Patrick. The right to obtain public records is very important, and I believe Sunshine was created in order to honor and uphold that right. As you wrote us in the beginning, you set up Sunshine, hoping to make it easier for persons to obtain records, and that is laudable.
Unfortunately, like any other right or privilege, this one can be abused. We have strong suspicions that the information requests you presented have already been answered, and that persons are using your services with the unscrupulous motive to try to burden and even harass the City, all inappropriately and not in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution or the statutes.
Your very name indicates that you want things to be out in the open. That is a good thing. A public entity has only very few rights in connection with these requests, and rightly so. But rights the City does have are worth guarding. Nothing in the Constitution or the statues takes away a public entity’s right to know who is making the request. We field many requests, including many from lawyers. No-one other than you has ever made an effort to do so anonymously. In fact, most attorneys’ requests opens with something like, “I represent John Doe, and on his behalf, I make the following request for information.”
I am not sure when or why you decided that you could make requests for people and not identify them. Facilitate their requests, sure; but don’t abuse the privilege. With the very reason Sunshine exists in mind, it is unlikely that you are acting for yourself and not as an agent for someone. It just is not a credible representation.
Under these circumstances, the City is requiring what it has required all along – the name of the person for whom you are presenting the request.
Michael K. Pratt
City Attorney – Brevard, NC
RAMSEY, PRATT & CAMENZIND, P.A.
Attorneys at Law
35 North Gaston Street
Brevard, NC 28712
Phone: 828-884-4113
Fax: 828-885-2494
Our Web Page: www.ramsey-pratt.com
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email is intended for one or more specific recipients. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately.
ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE NOTICE: This email may contain information which is subject to the Attorney-Client privilege. If so, the privilege could be waived in the event that its content is shared with anyone not on the intended recipient list.
LEGAL AND TAX ADVICE NOTICE: You are hereby notified that any legal or tax advice contained in this communication, including any attachments, is not intended to be used to avoid penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or for promoting, marketing or encouraging any party to disregard or fail to comply with any Internal Revenue law or ruling, or any other law or ruling.
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: Michael Pratt <[email protected]>
cc: Phil Harris <[email protected]>,
Jim Fatland <[email protected]>
date: Dec 15, 2020, 4:26 PM
subject: Re: FW: Records Request: (November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
Hi Michael,
Please provide documentation of anywhere in the NC Public Records Act and NC Public Records Law that specifies a requester must provide their name or address, or any “proof of who they are”, or further justification or reasoning for making a request, in order for a government agency to fulfill a basic public records request – I’ll be happy to answer your questions once you’ve done so.
Otherwise, please fulfill the three requests as they were sent in.
If you are unable to do so, please provide a copy of the publicly available legal documentation which would justify a denial of these three Public Records requests under NC Public Records law. Please be specific as to the reason for the denial.
Thank you.
from: Michael Pratt <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
cc: Phil Harris <[email protected]>,
Jim Fatland <[email protected]>
date: Dec 15, 2020, 3:11 PM
subject: RE: FW: Records Request: (November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
Are you Patrick?
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: Michael Pratt <[email protected]>
cc: Phil Harris <[email protected]>,
Jim Fatland <[email protected]>
date: Dec 15, 2020, 2:27 PM
subject: Re: FW: Records Request: (November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
Hi Michael,
You can disregard the fact an email address ([email protected]) just happens to send you the emails. That is irrelevant.
This email address belongs to Patrick Conant. The requests are being made by an individual, Patrick Conant. Clarifying once again – Patrick Conant is acting on his own behalf, as the “agent” and “principal” administrator of his own records requests, and as such, he has submitted the records requests to the City of Brevard, on his own behalf, as an individual under NC Public Records law. The requests are all made by Patrick Conant, who has disclosed his name and address, and that should be a sufficient answer for you to process the requests.
From here forward please note that all requests have been / are made by Patrick Conant (address previously provided).
Please fulfill the requests, and if you are unable to do so, please provide a copy of whatever publicly available legal documentation you’re using to justify the denial of a Public Records request that has been made by an NC resident under NC Public Records law. Please be specific.
Patrick will make a determination on how he’d like to proceed from there.
Thank you.
Sunshine Request
from: Michael Pratt <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
cc: Phil Harris <[email protected]>,
Jim Fatland <[email protected]>
date: Dec 15, 2020, 1:08 PM
subject: RE: FW: Records Request: (November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
If Mr. Conant is acting as an agent for another, we ask that the principal’s name be disclosed. Thank you.
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: Michael Pratt <[email protected]>
cc: Phil Harris <[email protected]>,
Jim Fatland <[email protected]>
date: Dec 15, 2020, 12:19 PM
subject: Re: FW: Records Request: (November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
Hi Michael,
Thank you for your reply.
We have gotten in the habit by now of providing the City with a name etc. in our first message sent with a new request. We’ve learned over time that the City of Brevard will not assist with our public records requests otherwise. I’m not sure how that info was missed in any of these three cases (below), but if it was then we apologize for leaving those details out.
While it would be preferable if you could reply to each request individually moving forward, we are happy to address all three right now in this one email today. From hereon though, we’d like to ask that you please reply to a specific records request on its corresponding email thread.
You are referring to 3 public records requests. Found here:
(November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
(November 2020) Request for NC Law Enforcement misconduct findings 10/30/2010 – present
(November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Parking lot UDO/City Ordinance info as of 11/11/20
We’ve learned from our previous correspondences with Michael and Jill over time that,
“the City does not respond to anonymous FOIA requests. When you submit a FOIA request on behalf of a third party, we require the requesting individual party’s name, address and proof that he or she has executed the request and designated your organization to make the request on his or her behalf. If there is a cost for the copies, we will let you know that before responding to the request, and your organization or the requesting party must agree to pay that cost.”
To reiterate again – We are not making a FOIA request. We are making a public records request under NC Public records law NCGS 132, under which there is no provision requiring an individual to provide a name or address with a public records request. However, as a courtesy to help speed along the requests, we have been happy to provide a name and address –– you should consider that all requests are made by Patrick Conant, who just happens to also be the director of Sunshine Request.
Patrick is the “actual requesting party”, and his address is PO Box 17391, Asheville NC, 28816. He is an NC resident who is making a public records request to the City of Brevard, under NC public records law. He has provided you with his name and address, and having done so, you should now proceed to fulfill his three requests.
If you feel for some reason you still need additional “proof” that Patrick is making the request, and that it is legally required under NC public records law, please cite that specific information and what “proof” you require – I will be happy to facilitate a phone call between you and Patrick to discuss as much at that point, if necessary.
Please let us know if you are now able to provide the records as originally requested. If you are unable / unwilling to fulfill the requests, kindly let us know. If you will be denying the requests, please provide us with a copy and documentation of any and all public policies within the City of Brevard, as well as NC Public Records Law, which will justify a reason for denial. We will note this information on our site, and will decide how we’d like to proceed from there.
Thank you for your assistance!
Sunshine Request
from: Michael Pratt <[email protected]>
to: “[email protected]” <[email protected]>
cc: Phil Harris <[email protected]>
date: Dec 15, 2020, 11:31 AM
subject: FW: Records Request: (November 2020) Request for City of Brevard, NC Police Chief reimbursements 11/01/16 – 11/09/20
This is in response to the three information requests received from you by the City of Brevard Police Department in November:
The City will no longer respond to information requests from persons whose names are not disclosed to the City. The name of a person affiliated with Sunshine, who is not the actual requesting party, will not be acceptable. The City will only provide information to an agent of a person when the name of that person is disclosed to the City.
Michael K. Pratt
City Attorney – Brevard, NC
RAMSEY, PRATT & CAMENZIND, P.A.
Attorneys at Law
35 North Gaston Street
Brevard, NC 28712
Phone: 828-884-4113
Fax: 828-885-2494
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: Phil Harris <[email protected]>
cc: Jill Murray <[email protected]>
date: Dec 7, 2020, 3:46 PM
subject: Re: Records Request: Request for NC Law Enforcement misconduct findings 10/30/2010 – present
Good afternoon Brevard Police Department,
We’re checking in on this request that was sent to your office on November 9th: (November 2020) Request for NC Law Enforcement misconduct findings 10/30/2010 – present
Can you please confirm that it has been received and is being processed? We’ll follow up again in a week if we don’t hear back before then.
Thank you,
Sunshine Request
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: Phil Harris <[email protected]>
date: Nov 9, 2020, 4:06 PM
subject: Records Request: Request for NC Law Enforcement misconduct findings 10/30/2010 – present
Good afternoon Brevard Police Department,
I work for a website called Sunshine Request www.sunshinerequest.com. We built a site that makes it easier to make public records requests by filling out a simple form, and the results of any requests are posted on our site. This allows citizens to learn more about our local government, while saving staff from having to fulfill duplicate requests. If you have any questions about the project, please let me know, and I’ll be happy to answer.
We received a request for information that may be available in your office. If you are not the appropriate contact, please let us know who to get in touch with instead. Additionally, if you can also please provide a rough estimate as to when the request will be completed. We will plan on following up again at the end of this month if we don’t hear back before then.
Here are the details of the request:
Subject: Request for NC Law Enforcement misconduct findings 10/30/2010 – present
Message: “Hi City of Brevard, NC Government (Police Department),
I’d like to make a public records request for the following information:
Please provide a list of all City of Brevard, NC Police Department misconduct findings among officers within their agency over the past 10 years. Specifically, during the time period of October 30, 2010 to present day [date the query is performed].
The list should also include the following: Nature of the misconduct, year, please state whether terminated or retained.
Names are not being requested due to privacy.
Thank you for your assistance!”
** Sunshine Request makes no claim as to the veracity of any statements or information contained in any of the requests, or public records, we receive.
We appreciate your help.
Have a good day,
Sunshine Request
Status:
Government Denied Request
