Editor’s Note: 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.
Editor’s Note 12/21/22: The submission above has been marked as “Completed”. As written, it is unclear what specific info the sender would like to receive.
We attempted to rewrite the request into a more clear request for available public records (see below). However, looking at the original Subject vs. the original Message the sender wrote, it is still unclear whether the “communications” search is keyword or subject specific.
For example: Are you looking for communications specifically related to “tourism”, “tourism dollars”, “funding”, or some other keyword / topic between the parties mentioned? ( All emails sent to and sent from [X parties], related to [X topic, or X keywords] during [X dates] ) ?
Clarifying this info will help narrow the request and reduce the amount of time it takes the County to produce the records. If it is not subject or keyword-specific, however, and you’d just like “All electronic communications”, then please indicate that in the request Message.
Additionally – Part B. of the request is more of an informational type of question for Cleveland County to answer, rather than a clear request for a specific public record. For example — what “books” are you referring to? Is it related to a particular subject / topic of financial information, during a specific date range? Please consider rewording this as a request for electronic communications between certain entities about a certain topic.
We’d ask that the sender please revise and submit new request(s) clearly indicating specific date ranges and any other specific details about the exact public records that are being requested.
[DRAFT]
Hello Cleveland County, NC Government (Records Officer),
I’d like to make a multi-part public records request for the following information under NC Public Records Law. Ref: https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bychapter/chapter_132.html
This request is related to the Cleveland County Commissioners and Tourism dollars for the Cleveland County Fair and the American Legion World Series.
A. Please provide all electronic communications [Text Messages, Emails, Voicemails, etc.) sent and received by any and all of the Cleveland County Commissioners and the Cleveland County Manager, between the personnel of The Cleveland County Fair and The American Legion World Series.
During the specific time period of May 03, 2022 through July 29, 2022.
This request is not keyword or subject specific — I’d like “ALL communications” exchanged between those entities during the time period specified.
Please note. I am not requesting printed copies of electronic records. In accordance with NC Public Records Law, I’m requesting explicitly that all responsive records be provided via an electronic medium / format (in which the records should already exist), such as an email, file share, google drive folder, mailed flash drive if necessary, etc.
B. This is more of an informational type question, rather than a records request – but I would also like to know whether any of the Commissioners and / or County Manager ever requested to see “the books” (financial records) of each entity above. If so, how was their request handled? Was their request to look at their financial requests honored or refused?
**I do not have any additional or further clarifying information to provide. If you are unable to fulfill any or all parts of this request, please specifically cite where a reason for denial is justified under NC Public Records Law.**
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I am not required to provide a name or address to associate with a public records request, but in order to move things along I’d like to clarify that this request is being made by:
Sunshine Request
PO Box 17391
Asheville, NC 28816The request has been sent solely from the email address [email protected] . If anyone other than that email address contacts you to pursue a similar request, it did not come from me. Please do not commingle or treat that as an alteration or cancellation of my request – I intend to continue to pursue my request.
Please note that I cannot commit to sign any forms or pay any potential fees / associated costs related to any request. If it is not possible to process the request without incurring fees, then please let me know the itemized potential cost.
Thank you for your assistance!
Sunshine Request will not fulfill the following types of requests:
☀️ Requests that are only informational questions, and requests that are not addressed to government entities.
Sunshine Request is a site built to make requests for public records to the government — Public records are recorded information such as documents, government emails, and data sets.
In the interest of preserving our team’s time to focus on the high volume of requests on our site, as well to respect the staff time of government entities fulfilling records requests, Sunshine Request will no longer fulfill “requests” that are just informational type questions for government entities to answer.
We also will not fulfill requests made to non-government entities.
It’s the requester’s responsibility to write the request in a manner that clearly specifies a record that is being requested, and to what government entity it should be sent.
☀️ Requests that are incomplete, non-specific, or vague.
While we do proofread requests we receive for general spelling and clarity, we may choose not to fulfill the request if it is incomplete, or it is unclear what specific information the requester hopes to receive. In this case, the sender may rewrite and resubmit the request.
It’s the requester’s responsibility to write the request in a manner that clearly specifies a record that is being requested, and to what government entity it should be sent.
☀️ Please be specific:
It is important that what you are requesting is specific and reasonable, and is an actionable records request. Please specify the exact type of records you’d like to receive, rather than any “possible” or “potential” info that could be searched. Remember that the larger your request, the more time it usually takes to fulfill. Specificity will often help reduce the amount of time needed to process the request.
It is important that a request has a clearly written and complete Subject and Message, and also specifies the Government Entity (or entities), City and/or County, and State to which the request should be sent. If applicable, please also include any responsive timelines for the info that should be requested.
While we do proofread requests we receive for general spelling and clarity, we may choose not to fulfill the request if it is incomplete, or it is unclear what specific info the requester hopes to receive, or if it violates our policies.
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