DMR response to Sun Herald request for travel expenses from one account

The Sun Herald received the email below from one of the two assistant attorneys general assigned to the state Department of Marine Resources:

In regards to your Request for Records dated Jan. 31, 2013:

All records related to project number 670 (Executive Project fund or account) from 2005 to date. To include, but not be limited to, all purchase orders, invoices and/or bills and receipts, and any other records of receipts, expenditures and any accompanying documentation."

The documents responsive to this request (excluding travel and payroll) can be retrieved, reformatted and downloaded to a DVD for an approximate total of 4 hours of professional staff timeThis estimate does not include Travel and Payroll documents in relation to the 670 fund account. Those documents are located in the State Auditor's Office and contain sensitive information such as social security numbers that will have to be redacted prior to copying. A cost estimate of staff time for redaction and copying will be provided in the event your request includes the Travel and Payroll documents.

Additionally, the Travel documents are filed by staff member and not by project code. Furthermore, because travel documents contain sensitive data, the file for a specific individual utilizing the 670 fund must be pulled by a DMR staff member, sensitive information redacted and copied.

However, in the event you desire to ascertain which individuals utilized the 670 fund for Travel purposes, a report must be prepared and the staff identified by a transaction number before that travel record could be retrieved, which would also increase the costs associated with complying with this request.

A cost estimate of staff time for this process will be provided in the event you are requesting this information.

Sandy Chesnut

Special Assistant Attorney General

Mississippi Department of Marine Resources