by Donna Bausch
Presenters: Natalie
Womack, DEQ FOIA Officer
Alan Gernhardt, Senior Attorney, Virginia
FOIA Council
Natalie Womack came to the Virginia Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ) after three years at the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. She contrasted FOIA procedure
at the federal and state level. In
Virginia, response is far timelier than at the federal level, and the
commitment is to be as responsive as possible in releasing all requested
information permissible by law.
(Photo of Natalie Womack by Fred Dingledy)
What is DEQ? The
Department resulted from the 1992 merger of the Air, Water and Waste
Boards. DEQ’s mission is to protect the
health and well-being of the citizens of Virginia.
Womack wants FOIA requesters to keep in mind that a “no
record” response may mean either that 1) a record never existed or 2) that the
record once existed but no longer exists, due to Public Records Act retention
policy limitations.
There is a 5 day response timeline, which can be extended
another 7 days with adequate agency justification.
FOIA provides access both to public records and to public
meetings. Womack focuses on the records
side.
All items are “records” – if they are in agency possession,
stored or owned, regardless of physical form; “letters, numbers or words” relating
to the business of the agency.
FOIA requests can be made in person, by mail or email. The DEQ website includes a video Womack
narrates instructing requesters how to prepare requests.
Be as specific as possible in your request. Include any potentially relevant information
which can narrow the search. Limit the
request to a specific time frame.
Fishing expeditions can be expensive.
DEQ is philosophically inclined to provide requesters
with anything relevant. But keep in mind
that the FOIA Officer is a FOIA expert, rather than a scientist or subject
matter expert!
Most importantly, Womack provided her direct contact
information:
804-698-4085
If all FOIA officers are as charming, funny and dedicated
to their work as Womack, our tax dollars are well spent.
Alan Gernhardt has done this type of work since 2004, and
it shows. He showed a facility with the
subject matter and familiarity with the complex issues which result that was
truly impressive and laced his presentation with humor and memorable war
stories.
He posited that FOIA policy attempts to put the lofty
ideal of “informed” consent of the governed into practical effect.
(Photo of Alan Gernhardt by Fred Dingledy)
The general rule is that all public records are open
unless they fall within one of the 150 records and meetings exemptions, which
are quite specific. (For example, one
exempts release of the subscriber list of a state agency produced wildlife
magazine.)
FOIA is not intended to be an adversarial process.
Clarity of communication is often the issue.
Gernhardt walked us through the Council’s extensive web
resources.
Useful forms and sample letters are included, including
court forms. Advisory Opinions of the FOIA
Council are searchable. Also see the
Coalition for Open Government site which gathers Advisory Opinions by topic.
Regarding costs, public bodies are encouraged to price
the cost of providing a “page” of records and publishing this so that
requesters can plan accordingly.
Reasonable charges/actual costs are permissible. Actual costs can be shockingly high. For example, it can cost $1000 per employee
for a month’s worth of email “data dump”.
Hence the wisdom of carefully targeting the request as to time period
and persons to whom the request should apply.
Agencies may charge for the time it takes for redaction
search and execution. Some recent Port
Authority requests, for example, have cost requesters upwards of $200K.
Gernhardt joked that an example of an ideal FOIA
transaction is a bus rider asking a bus driver for the bus route schedule and
being handed one. Quick,free and
complete.
Although this summary barely scratches the surface of
the valuable information shared by these experts, rest assured that our time
was well spent in this session and that we
have a better understanding of the complexity of FOIA in action and an
appreciation for the work of individuals tasked with responding to FOIA
requests.
