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 12/06/23: The 3 submissions above have been marked as “Completed”. As written, it is unclear what specific searchable public records the sender would like to receive.
[ REQUEST # 1 ]
– What specific type of “documentation” and “other public records” are you hoping to receive? Is this a search for just emails, meeting minutes of certain boards or committees (which are likely available online) ? Text messages sent between certain people? etc.
– When requesting emails, please specify who the emails are “sent to”, “sent from”, or “sent between” and indicate any specific people / staff / departments etc. that should be included. For example: Is this a request for all emails sent to, sent from, or sent between the County Commissioners? All County Staff? etc.
– Is there a more specific subject matter or any specific keywords that should be included in the search? For example: “Kelli Blue”, “Kellie Blue”, “County Manager hiring”, etc.
[ REQUEST # 2 ]
As written it’s unclear exactly what specific records are being requested.
– In our experience, “communications” records are generally considered to be Emails only, unless otherwise specified by the requester. If you’re looking for text messages between certain people, Facebook Messenger, Google Chat, etc. or other type of communication besides email, please specify.
– When requesting communications records, please specify who those are “sent to”, “sent from”, or “sent between” and indicate any specific people / staff / departments etc. For example: Is this a request for all emails sent to, sent from, or sent between the County Commissioners? All County Staff? etc.
– It’s clear that the subject matter requested should be related to “the search for the Economic Director of Robeson County, North Carolina position”. However, the addition of the phrase “to include compensation records”, makes this request unclear.
Would you like to make an additional (separate request) to know how much Mr. Jones has been paid by the County during a specific time period? Or, are you meaning to ask for all emails exchanged between certain people during a specific time period, regarding the specific subject matter of how much a new County Manager could potentially be paid?
[ REQUEST # 3 ]
– What specific type of “documentation” and other “public records” are you hoping to receive?
– We understand that, in part, you’d like to know “any vacation time off, and trackable work hours”, but — are you asking to receive a report of all vacation time-off that “has been taken” during a period of time? Or, are you wanting to know the terms around how much Vacation time this person is entitled to use or accrue, per their original employment contract?
– As far as trackable work hours – we’ll interpret this to mean that you’d like to receive all of this person’s “time sheets” (if such a record exists) during the specified time period. Or, is it just that you’d like to know how many total hours this person has worked during that period of time? Alternatively, if it’s not possible for the Disclosing Agency to look up the information in that way … are you asking to know how much Judge Mcintyre has been paid during the period of time specified (to include any vacation time, compensation, salary, bonus, etc) ?
– Additionally. It’s unclear to what entity a request like this should be sent. Should this be sent to the NC Judicial Branch” Or, possibly, would it make sense to send this to the Robeson County Clerk of Court?
We’d ask that the sender please submit any new request(s), to clearly indicate any specific details, subject matter, message, dates, record types, City /County / State, etc. about the exact public records that are being requested, and to what entity the request is being made. Clarifying this info will help to greatly narrow the scope of the request(s), and will also reduce the amount of time it takes the Disclosing Agency (as well as our team) to process the requests.
Sunshine Request will not fulfill the following types of requests:
☀️ 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.
☀️ Requests that include profanity, personal statements, opinions, possibly defamatory statements, or other unnecessary info that is not relevant to making a records request.
Please do not include personal opinions and statements in the request’s Subject or Message. Please omit any extraneous statements that are not specific to the exact information you’d like to receive. This is not relevant information pertinent to the processing of a records request, and the request will not be published.
☀️ 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.
☀️ 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.
Before submitting a request, please take a moment to review our tips for How to write and make a successful request. If you have additional questions about our site or how to make requests, please check out our FAQs or Policies page.
☀️ Code of Conduct: Please do not use Sunshine Request or any of the results of public records requests to harass government entities / employees, businesses, private citizens / individuals, or otherwise.
☀️ Please note that we cannot pay any fees / associated costs related to any of the requests on our site. If it is not possible for a Government Agency to process our request without incurring fees, then it is the responsibility of that Agency to let us know what the potential costs may be — at which point we will ask that they cease processing the request. We will mark the request as “Completed” on our site, and the sender can contact the Government Agency directly, should they wish to further pursue a request.
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