Dear [Insert Records Custodian's name here]:
As we discussed on the phone earlier today, pursuant to Montana's Montana Public Records Act § 2-6-101 et seq. (), I hereby request the following records:
With regard to this request, the following definitions are provided, in an effort to provide as specific a description as possible:
DOCUMENT or DOCUMENTS means and includes both paper documents and electronic representations of information, including handwriting, typewriting, printing, photographing, photocopying, transmitting by electronic mail or facsimile, placing on an internet website, and every other means of recording upon any tangible thing, including letters, words, pictures, sounds, or symbols, or combinations thereof, and any record thereby created, regardless of the manner in which the record has been stored.
YOU or YOUR means the Montana Department of Corrections or other sub-agencies or affiliated departments for whom you also act as the custodian of records for public records requests.
Unless otherwise specified, the documents specified below are limited to those created or communicated between Jan. 1, 2010 and June 30, 2015.
- DOCUMENTS reflecting all public records requests you have received since Jan 1., 2010, including:
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the date of request
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the name of requester
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Contact information of requester
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substance of the request
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the status of your handling of the request
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if fulfilled, what was provided and in what format
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the cost of fulfilling the request
If you believe that a portion of the information I have requested is exempt from disclosure by express provisions of the law, and if you believe that the public interest in withholding the information clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure, I request that you identify the harm of release to the public considering the important interest of transparency in government operations, particularly when public funds are involved.
I ask that you exercise your discretion to waive any and all costs for complying with this request, as I believe this request is in the public interest and is not for commercial use. Release of this information is in the public interest because it will contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations and activities. If you deny this request for a fee waiver, please advise me in advance of the estimated charges associated with fulfilling this request, pending a review of the documents by me or my designees as to their responsiveness to this request.
Where documents contain data in electronic form (e.g. spreadsheets), please make the documents available in electronic form (e.g., Excel, CSV or other database format). If responsive documents are publicly available on the internet, please provide the internet address (URL) rather than by making copies. Where documents are available in image format (e.g., PDF, JPG, GIF or PNG), please make the documents available in that format.
I will be happy to discuss with you alternative means of obtaining the same information in ways that may reduce any burden on you or your staff. Please do not hesitate to contact me in this regard.
In the interest of expediency, and to minimize the research and/or duplication burden on your staff, please send records electronically if possible. If this is not possible, please notify me before sending to the address listed below. Since time is a factor, please communicate with me by telephone or this email address. I can be reached at 212-803-5200.
I appreciate that you and your employees are busy, so thank you for your prompt attention to this request.
Sincerely,
Tom Meagher
tmeagher@themarshallproject.org 212-803-5200 156 W. 56th Street, Suite 701 New York, NY 10019