As we recently reported, we’ve been trying to find out who hired The Mosaic Group to run the North Miami GO Bond Educational Campaign. We also wanted to know who directed this organization to hire the companies, NIC Investments, Corporation, Zafe Pa Nou, Inc., and GAF Professional Center, L.L.C. to canvass on behalf of the city.
City Attorney Jeff Cazeau advised that this is not a public records request and that these questions should be addressed to the vendor.
We disagreed and wrote back that any decisions made by public officials are a matter of public record.
Mr. Cazeau was kind enough to email back this morning – on a Saturday no less – with the following response:
Ms. Kienzle,
Per the Public Records Act a “Public record” means the following: “all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, tapes, photographs, films, sound recordings, data processing software, or other material, regardless of the physical form, characteristics, or means of transmission, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any agency. Section 119.011(12), Florida Statutes (2018).
The City is required to provide access to or copies of records but is not required either to create new records or to provide information from records in response to a request. Op. Atty. Gen. Fla. 80-57 (1980); Op. Atty. Gen. Fla. 92-38 (1992); Wootton v. Cook, 590 So.2d 1039 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991); Seigle v. Barry, 422 So.2d 63 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982); Wootton v. Cook, 590 So. 2d 1039 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991); In re Report of Supreme Court Workgroup on Pub. Records, 825 So. 2d 889, 898 (Fla. 2002).
Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes provides a right of access to inspect and copy an existing public record; it does not mandate that an agency create new records in order to accommodate a request. Your question regarding who made the decision to have The Mosaic Group hire particular companies as canvassers for the GO Bond Educational Campaign is a question not a request for documents. Moreover, you are requesting information for which there is no document, paper, letter, map, book, tape, photograph, film, sound recording, data processing software, or other material that is responsive to your inquiry. Since the Public Records Act does not require the City to create a record to accommodate your request or conduct investigations on your behalf we consider this matter closed.
Best,
Jeff P. H. Cazeau
Mr. Cazeau went through quite a bit of trouble not answering our latest public records request.
We don’t blame him. His job is to do everything in his power to protect his employer, the City of North Miami, from any and all liability.
A city’s legal counsel is also responsible for defending the actions of its public employees when they are charged with wrongdoing while conducting city business, which could explain why we’re not getting a straight answer.
Mr. Cazeau, however, does an excellent job justifying his handsome salary.
Nevertheless, we are reluctant to take Mr. Cazeau’s advice to approach The Mosaic Group with our request. Private businesses are under no obligation to disclose any company records to the general public. We intend to ask the owners of The Mosaic Group for this information, but will respect their wishes if they refuse our request. We have no beef with them, either.
While we have no doubt that the City Attorney’s refusal to answer our questions is legally justified, we can’t help but be curious as to why this information is being kept hidden from the public.
About a month ago, City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey refused to answer these same questions when asked by a resident, who told us, “It’s shady, but the shade never ends in this city.”
It’s quite apparent that someone at City Hall is hiding something.
But, what?
More importantly, why?
We’re stumped.
Councilman Scott Galvin, we could really use your help again here if you’re so inclined.
North Miami residents deserve better.
Stephanie
Although you may not like Mr. Cazeau’s response, he is correct. As somebody who has requested public information in the past, I realize sometimes it is frustrating.
This might be something better asked of a council member.
Whether I like it or not doesn’t matter. I have no doubt that Mr. Cazeau’s response is correct. I trust that he’s well versed in public records law.
Councilman Galvin emailed to tell me he’d follow up. Great news! Residents should not be kept in the dark how their money is spent. Just saying.
Sorry for this somewhat haphazzard response but this kind of beaing around the bush by public officials infuriates me and I can’t think linearly.
From his letter:
“or other material, regardless of the physical form, characteristics, or means of transmission, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any agency.”
The person who recommended Mosaic Group had to do so by some means, either a verbal, physical, or digital correspondence. All of those have corresponding records associated with them
Verbal correspondence would require a phone call or physical meeting, both of which should have records establishing date, time, and involved persons.
Physical correspondence would require creation and delivery of a document, which again involves a date and involved persons.
Digital correspondence, my favorite, likewise has date, time, and involved persons, but also the actual digital correspondence itself.
I can imagine someone making a phone call, giving advice at a meeting, or writing something by hand on a piece of paper, not creating a paper record in and of itself that the City would maintain, however some record would exist for WHEN the decision was made and involving which parties.
For instance, the person who actually engaged and hired Mosaic Group must have had a meeting, a phone call, or a digital correspondence with the person who recommended Mosaic Group.
Since the attorney wants to play goose chase with the decision in question, perhaps you can jump a little further down the rabbit hole and request the metadata of the correspondence during which the recommendation of Mosaic Group was made.
You’ve got more experience in this than I, do you think I’m missing the mark?
unless the decision was made illegally, it had to be made in conjunction with official business, for which there MUST be a record, even if the record is only a name, date, time, and means of transmission. (like a call/fax log or a date of a meeting.)
Florida Sunshine Laws require that if one does not themselves have access to the records in question they MUST transmit the public records request to the person who they believe would have the record. So whoever made this decision got a paycheck for working on the day they made this decision, and therefore the DATE of the decision IS a public record, and the name of the person who made the decision IS a public record.
Unless the decision was resolved spontaneously, no one needs to CREATE a new record. The name, date, and official capacity in which the decision was made IS a record, and turning those records into words in an email is not a new record but simply altering the means of transmission. And the record exists regardless of the means of transmission. If someone said something over the phone, they transmitted the record that way, and the record exists in their head. They can put that record on paper and it is the SAME record because the relevant aspect of the content is identical regardless of the physical format.
verbalization is a physical thing, therefore falling under the very plain definition of a record.
By the logic of the attorneys letter copying a a piece of paper would “create a new record,” except we all know it doesn’t. The same as asking who did something, their name then being written down doesn’t create a new record, it simply copies the record into a usable format.
(this ignoring the fact that exchanges with the attorney in asking for a record does actually create a new record. So the attorney has no issue creating new records to beat around the bush, but he finds it somehow insurmountable to transmit a [potentially] verbal record into a textual one)
So…
I would submit:
A public records request for the means of transmission of the decision/recommendation to hire Mosaic Group, the date/time of the transmission, and the involved parties.
If the attorney, or the PIO, or whichever bureaucrat the request gets sent to doesn’t know the answer, then they should refer the public records request to whomever they believe has the record.
(uh oh, i’m gonna lose focus again)
I would be very interested in any court cases involving mental records. Is a memory of something done in an official capacity a record? I assume it is because, again, “other materials, regardless of physical form.”
I like the way you think, Prem! Talk about mental gymnastics! Seriously, though, you made perfect sense. I’m pretty sure Jeff Cazeau punk’d me, and I fell for it hook, line and sinker.
Rather than go even deeper down that rabbit hole for now, I’m going to wait to see if Councilman Galvin can get answers for us. He’s pretty good at smacking the bureaucrats into submission. If he can’t get to the bottom of this, there are other ways to make them talk.
Let’s give it a few days.
I love these great Americans involved in daily life. Thank you all so much ! Stephany, I would love you to move to north Miami Beach and run for mayor. My city has been taken by liberal progressives. It is good to hope. Thank you all for the service to our country.
Thanks, but I escaped NMB years ago and moved to Broward. I rarely venture south of the border anymore, and I’ve never even considered running for office and screwing the electorate. It’s so much more rewarding (not to mention fun!) being an activist and exposing corrupt public officials, and the dirty lobbyists who buy their votes, for the scum-sucking bottom feeders they are. North Miami is a swamp sorely in need of draining. North Miami Beach is not too far behind.