MeshMail

Mr. Rick Meshberger, Support Services Manager, Information Technology Dept, Brevard County BOCC, asked me today to post the e-mails from himself to me. He said I was a liar (yes, a County Employee called me a liar in front of at least three witnesses in his department today: class act) because I hadn't posted his e-mails. Not posting something is lying. Okay. So, to make sure Mr. Rick Meshberger has a reason to be happy I post the following e-mail exchange between Mr. Rick Meshberger and I. I post them without much further comment because I want to be sure that Mr. Rick Meshberger is as happy as a clam. Maybe this will soothe his sensibilities. Please note that I did insert a link in my first e-mail that was not in the original, but it shows what I was asking for and found a way to get.

Mr. Rick Meshberger was forwarded the e-mail below from me to the Commissioners on September 12, 2011:

"From: Lindy [mailto:mckinney6025@bellsouth.net]
"Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 10:41 AM
"To: Commissioner, D1; Commissioner, D2; Commissioner, D3; Commissioner, D4; Commissioner, D5
"Subject: Sunshine Law request

"Commissioners:

"Invoking, FL SS 119 (The Sunshine Law), you forward to me via e-mail a copy of any and all e-mails that Maureen Rupe sent to your office in the last two weeks. I also request a copy of any e-mails you sent to Maureen Rupe in the last two weeks (especially D1's office). I request the information no later than the close of business today because I don't expect there to be very much (although I may be mistaken).

"Thank you for your attention to this matter.

"Sincerely,

"Linda McKinney"

Upon receipt of this request, D1's office sent the following response:

"From: Commissioner, D1
"To: Lindy ; Commissioner, D1 ; Commissioner, D2 ; Commissioner, D3 ; Commissioner, D4 ; Commissioner, D5
"Cc: Lewis, Sally A ; Tipton, Howard ; Lackovich, Mary B ; Reed, Dorothy E.
"Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 1:36 PM
"Subject: RE: Sunshine Law request

"Sally,

"As the official Ombudsman, the attached request is being forwarded to you per our Public Records Policy.

"Kathie England
"Administrative Aide
"District 1 Commission Office
"Brevard County, Florida
"400 South Street, Suite 1A
"Titusville, FL 32780-7698
"Ph: 321-2646750
"Fax: 321-264-6751
"Email: Kathie.England@brevardcounty.us

"Please note:
"Florida has a very broad public records law.
Most written communications to or from the
offices of elected officials are public records
available to the public and media upon request.

"Your email communications may therefore be subject to public disclosure.

Notice the first e-mail I received from Mr. Rick Meshberger has two e-mails in one. Almost as if he waited to send the e-mail after writing it, and then sent it to me without my responding to him. I have checked my e-mails and all the folders in which I may have put a response to Mr. Rick Meshberger, but there is no response to the bottom portion of the e-mail because, notice no time/date stamp, it was not sent to me. This is the first e-mail I received from Mr. Rick Meshberger as I received it.

NOTE: The ONLY changes I make to the e-mails are the signature blocks will be left off after the first e-mail exchanges. That way you don't have to scroll down through my two sayings and his county employee info every time. Fair enough? Good. Enjoy.

"From: Meshberger, Rick L
"To: mckinney6025@bellsouth.net
"Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 3:16 PM
"Subject: Brevard County Public records request
"Ms. Mckinney,

"I just wanted to let you know that your public records request is on hold until I get authorization to proceed. See my email below.
"Thank you,
"Rick Meshberger
"Support Services Manager
"Information Technology Dept
"Brevard County BOCC
"PH: 321-617-7395


"Ms. McKinney,

"You submitted a public records request on 9/12/2011 and was forwarded to the IT department to fulfill. It is estimated that this search and compilation will take approximately 3 hours to perform. The charges for this work will be based on the lowest paid employee capable of doing the work which is $21.75 per hour. Again, 3 hours is only an estimate but I need your authorization to proceed.

"Rick Meshberger
"Support Services Manager
"Information Technology Dept
"Brevard County BOCC
"PH: 321-617-7395
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Under Florida Law, email addresses are Public Records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to public record requests, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing."

To which I responded:

"From: Lindy [mailto:mckinney6025@bellsouth.net]
"Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 12:36 AM
To: Meshberger, Rick L
"Subject: Re: Brevard County Public records request

"Mr. Meshbrger,

"I'll further specify my time frame: BETWEEN Sept. 7th at 7:00 P.M. and Sept. 8th at 12:00 NOON, FROM FISHER, Bolin, Nelson, Anderson TO MAUREEN RUPE. That should really narrow it down for you.

"I remind you that FL SS 119 states: "If the nature or volume of public records requested to be inspected or copied pursuant to this subsection is such as to require extensive use of information technology resources or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance by personnel of the agency involved, or both, the agency may charge, in addition to the actual cost of duplication, a special service charge..." I doubt that this request is now considered "extensive" since I narrowed the search to four people and seventeen hours.Since Fisher's office was closed Wednesday (Sept. 7th) after 5:00 p.m. and unless he sent the e-mail to Rupe via his cell phone or other portable electronic device, I suggest you focus your search on Sept. 8th in the hours between open of business (about 8:00 a.m.?) to the time of her reply received by all five of the Commissioners at 11:52 a.m. Setting these search parameters on a computer and leaving for coffee is neither extensive use of IT, nor is it extensive clerical or supervisory assistance. I have been a fluent computer user since before Windows 3.1 -- DOS is my first language -- so I know what I am talking about. I know my rights, Sir. I shall not be bamboozled.

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0100-0199/0119/0119.html

"119.07 3.(d) If the nature or volume of public records requested to be inspected or copied pursuant to this subsection is such as to require extensive use of information technology resources or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance by personnel of the agency involved, or both, the agency may charge, in addition to the actual cost of duplication, a special service charge, which shall be reasonable and shall be based on the cost incurred for such extensive use of information technology resources or the labor cost of the personnel providing the service that is actually incurred by the agency or attributable to the agency for the clerical and supervisory assistance required, or both.

"Linda McKinney

_____________________________________

"www.spacecoastconservative.com
"www.flickr.com/photos/lindymck
"http://spacecoastconservative.blogspot.com

"Remember: If the City/County/State/Nation can do it to your fellow citizen, they can do it to you, too. Stand up for your neighbor, because if you don't, the City/County/State/Nation will come for you next.

"Remember: Anyone who does not give you a wake-up call when they see you being stupid, self-destructive, or both, just plain doesn't care about you. It's those of us who do wake you up who care."

To which Mr. Rick Meshberger responded:

"From: Meshberger, Rick L
"To: Lindy
"Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 9:56 AM
"Subject: RE: Brevard County Public records request
"Ms. McKinney,

"Thank you for response. By narrowing down the time like you did should reduce our search down to approximately 1 hour. Doing a search of all mailboxes is not as simple as you described. My employee has to search each mailbox separately, compile any results, go on to the next until all mailboxes have been searched. He/she must then go through each and every email to make sure it is deemed public record and to redact any private information such as SSN and so on. I am just trying to do my job and do not have any motive whether you get this information or not. It does not matter to me. But according to the County’s Administrative Order (AO-47) any request requiring more than 30 minutes is chargeable.

"Based on the 1 hour of estimated time that it will take to process this request I need your authorization to proceed. If so, what format of output is desired. We can print the results, create a PST (Outlook file) and write it to a CD or create an image of the email and write that to CD.

"Rick Meshberger"
signature info, etc.

I responded:

"From: Lindy [mailto:mckinney6025@bellsouth.net]
"Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 1:58 PM
"To: Meshberger, Rick L
"Cc: Commissioner, D1; Commissioner, D2; Commissioner, D3; Commissioner, D4; Commissioner, D5
"Subject: Re: Brevard County Public records request

"Mr. Meshberger,

"I do not ask that you search ALL mailboxes. I ask that you search three: FISHER first. This way if you find it in the first search, you don't have to do the other two. Then I ask that you search BOLIN and NELSON in that order. I have reduced the request to the hours between 7 PM Sep. 7th and NOON Sep. 8th. I ask that you first search the hours between 8 AM and NOON Sep. 8th because that's when I suspect FISHER sent my e-mail to Rupe. Given these parameters, I see no way for you to estimate a "time certain" as to how long it will take to do a search for my GUARANTEED UNDER FL SS 119 information. IF after the search done under my direction you can prove that an employee actually took even half an hour to complete the task -- actually working on it, and not just having it run in the background while they are doing something else -- then you may figure a bill for me at that time. Please send the bill to Maureen Rupe at 7185 Bright Ave. Port St. John, FL 32927. She received $595.50 worth of PRINTED RECORDS FREE OF CHARGE Sep. 29, 2009 and I'm sure she'd be happy to pay her fair share for someone who wants one little bitty e-mail forwarded. If she is unwilling to pay, then I am sure that the County would like to treat us all fairly and I request that this bill be applied to the same $595.50 worth of FREE RECORDS I should receive that Rupe received in 2009. Just to be clear, I do NOT request a PRINTED version, I can print it myself. Just FORWARD THE E-MAIL sent from the Commissioner TO Rupe during that time frame. I'm sure that would be a cheap thing for her to pay.

"Linda McKinney"
signature block, etc.

He responded:

"From: Meshberger, Rick L
"To: Lindy
"Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 2:22 PM
"Subject: RE: Brevard County Public records request

"Ms. McKinney,

"As I have stated the amount of time necessary to compile with your request could take as much as 1 hour to complete. Obviously if we do the search and find the email you’re looking for right away as you suggested then you will not be charged if the amount of work takes less than 30 minutes. But since you have not giving me authorization to proceed then I am forward your email below to the County Attorney’s office for their direction.

"Rick Meshberger"
signature block, etc.

To which I responded:

"From: Lindy [mailto:mckinney6025@bellsouth.net]
"Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 4:40 PM
"To: Meshberger, Rick L
"Subject: Re: Brevard County Public records request

"Mr. Meshberger,

"Since you work for me and I pay your wages (the same for those under you), I see no need to pay extra for work that I am asking you to do for the fist time in months. As to forwarding my e-mail to the USELESS County Attorney's office, Hoorah for you! Feel better?

"Now, at my direction, do NOT do the search. I shall find another way to get the information and I shall get it without your idiocy and assistance. Grow up.

"Linda McKinney"
signature block, etc.

That is where it stood until today. I did find another way to get the information and he did comply with my in person request. Maybe next time he should just do it the easy way.