20211006_Zoning-Info
Request
From: Alicia Lopez [mailto:alicia.l@zoning-info.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 6, 2021 12:20 PM
To: Lamontagne, Danica <Danica.Lamontagne@Biddefordmaine.org>
Subject: Public Records Request (Ref# 77091)
Good Afternoon, I hope all is well!
Please see attached request, also please advise me if I am not requesting these documents property and point me in the right direction.
Thank you and have a great day,
Alicia Lopez |
Request Documents
Responses
Response 1
From: Lamontagne, Danica
Sent: Friday, October 8, 2021 3:49 PM
To: 'Alicia Lopez' <alicia.l@zoning-info.com>
Subject: RE: Public Records Request (Ref# 77091)
Good afternoon Alicia,
Thank you for your public records request dated October 6, 2021. Please consider this my formal acknowledgement of your request.
There are a few pieces of information I wanted to ensure that you were aware of before I leave the office for the holiday weekend:
The City provides the first hour of work associated with your records request at no charge. There is a fee of $15 per hour for each hour of work after that. I am still waiting to hear back from some staff members to be able to provide you an estimate of the amount of time needed to complete the records search; however, I do anticipate that there will be a fee associated with your request.
Once we provide an estimate of fees, which I expect to be able to do next week, I will need to receive confirmation from you that you accept the fee. Once I receive that confirmation, I will instruct our staff to move forward with gathering the information that you requested. Staff will keep track of the actual time it takes to fulfill your request, and you will only be charged a fee for the actual hours. We will need to receive a check from you for the fee in order to release the information.
Knowing that this request will require the efforts of multiple departments and that we are still several steps away from releasing information to you, I cannot guarantee that it will be fulfilled by your client’s requested date of October 16.
Additionally, Maine’s Freedom of Access Act does not require the City to generate any new documents or provide information in any format other than its original format. With that in mind, the document that you have attached requesting that we generate a Zoning Compliance Report does not fall under the Freedom of Access Act; however, you can contact our Director of Code Enforcement, Roby Fecteau, at roby.fecteau@biddefordmaine.org and he can assist you with this.
Thank you and enjoy the long weekend!
Danica Lamontagne
City of Biddeford
Communications Coordinator
danica.lamontagne@biddefordmaine.org
207-282-8423
Response 2
From: Lamontagne, Danica
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2021 3:39 PM
To: 'Alicia Lopez' <alicia.l@zoning-info.com>
Subject: FW: Public Records Request (Ref# 77091)
Hello Alicia,
I have worked with staff to come up with an estimate for the amount of time it will take to fulfill your request. Across the various departments involved, I have been provided an estimate of a total of 68 hours of work. This is mainly due to the fact that nearly all of the documents that our staff will have to search through exist only in a paper format.
Based on this estimate, I have calculated a fee of $990 to fulfill this request. If there is a specific document or piece of information that you are seeking, we would be happy to try to work with you to help you narrow your request in order to find only that information and limit your fees. Please let me know if you would like us to proceed with the request as originally submitted.
Best,
Danica Lamontagne
City of Biddeford
Communications Coordinator
danica.lamontagne@biddefordmaine.org
207-282-8423
Response 3
From: Lamontagne, Danica
Sent: Tuesday, November 9, 2021 3:09 PM
To: 'Alicia Lopez' <alicia.l@zoning-info.com>
Subject: City of Biddeford FOAA Request Files
Hello Alicia,
Staff has finished their search of files and has collected all items that they believe fulfill your request. There is a very large amount of files, so I have shared them using the file sharing service ShareFile. You can review and download them here. Please let me know if you encounter any issues accessing the files.
The cumulative staff time associated with this request ended up being significantly less than staff estimates. In total, this request took 18 hours of staff time. With the first two hours of work free per Maine state law, your fee will be calculated as follows:
16 hours x $15 per hour = $240
We have received your check for the originally estimated $990 fee. I have initiated a refund with our Finance Department of $750.
Thank you!
Danica Lamontagne
City of Biddeford
Communications Coordinator
danica.lamontagne@biddefordmaine.org
207-282-8423