Eighty-seven days have passed, and our Freedom of Information Law request has finally been completed.
FingerLakes1.com has received 171-pages worth of emails from the servers of the Ontario County Public Health office on Friday, September 25.
Originally, the request was supposed to be submitted in its entirety on Friday, September 13th, but that did not happen only after Ontario County Assistant Attorney Matthew Turetsky explained in an email on that same day.
Even though the process had been delayed by two-weeks, the documents were not fully released.
Christmas has come early for me; I have a lot of new presents to unpack… 171 pages worth to be exact! After 87-days of patiently waiting, I finally got the emails from Ontario County Public Health. What a stellar way to start the last day of #IRE20! I am truly stoked! pic.twitter.com/cuxeZDjoYr
— Gabriel Pietrorazio, M.J. (@GabePietrorazio) September 25, 2020
Turetsky cited several public information laws that caused for his office to redact certain sensitive data within those emails between local county and state officials, including: Public Officers Law § 87(2) (a), 45 CFR 164.508, Public Health Law §18, Public Officers Law § 87(2)(g) (i.-iii) as well as Public Officers Law § 87(2)(b) and §89(2)(b).
“Please note that certain records have been withheld or redacted to comply with state or federal laws as noted above, and to remove intra-agency or inter-agency communications not specifically exempted or information that would result in an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” Turetsky wrote in a letter on Friday.
Emails that were sent from mid-March until early June were subject to the FOIL request, but some of the correspondences are not in sequential order and blocked-out entirely to presumably protect the identities of COVID-19 positive cases.
Editor’s Note: Stay tuned for more exclusive reporting as our investigation into Ontario Center and Elm Manor continues and we start to compiling new coverage directly from this expansive public records request.
Gabe covered health and indigenous affairs in the Finger Lakes between 2019 and 2022. His award winning coverage was cited by the federal government and provided residents with an invaluable service during the coronavirus pandemic.