[net-gold] UNITED STATES: POST OFFICE : DOWNSIZING: Closing Rural United States Post Office: USPS "Expedited FOIA"
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Net-Gold -- Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Net-Gold <Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K-12ADMINLIFE <K12ADMIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K12AdminLIFE <K12AdminLIFE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, MediaMentor <mediamentor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Digital Divide Diversity MLS <mls-digitaldivide@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Platinum <net-platinum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Sean Grigsby <myarchives1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <NetGold_general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple Gold Discussion Group <TEMPLE-GOLD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple University Net-Gold Archive <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Health Lists -- Health Diet Fitness Recreation Sports Tourism <healthrecsport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Health Diet Fitness Recreation Sports <healthrecsport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, HEALTH-RECREATION-SPORTS-TOURISM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2011 06:53:36 -0400 (EDT)
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UNITED STATES: POST OFFICE : DOWNSIZING:
Closing Rural United States Post Office: USPS "Expedited FOIA"
This message is reposted with the permission of the author of this post.
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Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:15:58 -0400
From: c o'donnell <dadadata@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: FOI-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: USPS "Expedited FOIA"
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The postal service is after closing thousands of rural post offices. They plan
to replace them with people driving trucks (aka RFD) who are, they claim,
"rolling post offices."
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Our village PO had the misfortune to be smoked out of its location in an 1870
store by a small fire, and despite being 157 years old and a constituent part
of a National Register district, the bureaucrats are after it.
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There are a raft of documents they're supposed to accumulate in the
administrative record, which of course is public, prior to any decision to
close a post office. According to the USPS "Guide" to discontinuance, the
custodian is identified as the region's/district's Customer Service Manager.
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Since this might be a local issue times 11,000 or so in coming months, here's
my experience so far. My advice in a nutshell is to request the administrative
records concerning "discontinuance" at the earliest possible moment, and do not
hesitate to involve your federal legislators ASAP.
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The contents of the admin record are described in an online PDF, "Guide to
Discontinuance" which is USPS-101, I believe.
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Important points to remember:
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1a. The USPS personnel you'll deal with have no idea what "FOIA" covers and
doesn't.
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1b. "Covered by FOIA" is code for "no, you can't have it."
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2. The USPS will shuffle requests from office to office and branch to branch,
even if you address the FOIA letter directly to the custodian.
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3. The USPS has no idea what an "Expedited" request is, for even the simplest
material.
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4. Apparently, the way to get something handled promptly is to call your
Senators and Congressperson and raise hell.
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5. Copy or photograph the attendance sheet at the meeting.
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6. Ask the steno, at the end of the meeting, to read back the notes to everyone
in attendance.
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7. Beware the "you can't make recordings or take pictures of this meeting
because it's in a post office" ploy.
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In this case: according to Regional Operations Manager Bryan Landry, of Easton,
Md., the custodian would be William Ridenhour, Balt. District Manager. Landry
is the one who shows up at the public meetings. When he does, he doesn't bring
anything from the administrative docket with him. In fact, when he showed up at
a meeting in March -- which was improperly held, I'll spare you the details --
he had *nothing* with him.
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After an interval of several weeks, Landry announced a rescheduled meeting
which would be held in the community's Methodist Church rather than at 5 pm in
a Post Office 12 miles away.
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Landry was then asked for the administrative records for the Still Pond "study"
and said he couldn't bring them to the rescheduled meeting b/c they were
"covered by FOIA."
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Landry was asked for the notes of the March meeting where he allegedly had
someone taking down community questions. Couldn't give them out. "Covered by
FOIA." I finally obtained his typed interpretation of the notes (entitled
"Minutes") in Q&A format -- not the requested original notes on yellow legal
paper.
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I asked for the sign-in sheet. Can't divulge that. "Covered by FOIA. Personal
information." That is, names and postal addresses. Unfortunately for Bryan, the
USPS own guide says the signin sheet must be marked: "NOTICE: THIS INFORMATION
IS PART OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD SUBJECT TO PUBLIC INSPECTION."
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You may draw your own conclusions about Landry's grasp of his obligations under
FOIA. Eventually, "Minutes" from the first meeting showed up. The attendance
sheet is still lost in space.
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How to get the admin record? Anyway, the USPS FOIA page talks about an
"expedited" FOIA request; normal response time is given as 20 days:
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When can I expect a response from my FOIA request?
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The FOIA provides that an agency will respond in writing within 20 working days
of receipt of a request. If a request is sent to the wrong facility, the time
for response does not begin until the request is received by the custodian of
the records. There are unusual circumstances in which the agency may extend the
response period for another ten working days. These include requests that
require a search for records from a facility other than the one processing the
request, requests that require the search for and review of a large volume of
records, and requests that require consultation with another agency or with
other agency components having an interest in disclosure.
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Under what circumstances may I receive expedited processing for a FOIA request
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A FOIA request will receive expedited processing under two conditions only. In
one instance, the requester must demonstrate that the failure to expeditiously
obtain the records could reasonably be expected to pose an imminent threat to
the life or physical safety of an individual. In the other instance, the
requester must demonstrate that he or she is primarily engaged in disseminating
information to the public and that the requested information is urgently needed
to inform the public about actual or alleged government activity.
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The first meeting was March 24. After fooling around with Landry for a while
trying to get the notes, I decided that nothing was going to happen without a
letter to the higher-ups. (All of this could have been easily avoided if Landry
had faxed the eight or ten handwritten pages when originally asked, and been in
possession of the records at the first public meeting he scheduled. None of
this is Constitutional Law or Rocket Science.)
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I did my homework and April 6 I e-mailed an expedited FOIA request directly to
Ridenhour for the admin record documents, on newspaper letterhead, being a
reporter and all and covering the story.
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Shortly after, we heard that the USPS would reschedule its public community
meeting for April 28.
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I was then in daily contact with the USPS press office about the documents. The
contact, Yvette Singh, was not particularly helpful and apparently did not
understand the USPS "expedited FOIA" concept. First the request was in the
hands of lawyers. Then it was "in the process."
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On the 18th I received a letter from DC saying they'd gotten my request from
the Baltimore office on April 15.
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I called. "Well, it's only been one day," said DC. (Actually, let's see, it had
been 12 calendar days)
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I explained it had been quite a bit more than one day, and that it was an
expedited FOIA request.
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We are now waiting to see if the USPS can produce the records in time for my
April 20 deadline.
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==
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And so it goes. Members of the community have been in touch with Rep. Andy
Harris' office, and Sen Cardin & Mikulski. I called the hapless Miss Singh to
explain that I was going to raise hell until the documents were available and
then called legislators' offices.
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Miss Singh rerouted my call to a gentleman in DC and we had a nice conversation
about the problems so far complying with a simple request. Either the documents
are in a folder, or they aren't, and the USPS procedures indicate they should
be in Baltimore, not in Timbuktu.
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=====================================
End of Post
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Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxx
http://daviddillard.businesscard2.com
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