Editor’s Note: Sunshine Request makes no claim as to the veracity of any statements or information contained in any of the requests, or public records, we receive.
Editor’s Note 05/20/24: The submission above has been marked as “Completed”.
As written it is unclear what specific public records the sender would like to receive, and to what specific time period / entities each of the responsive records should apply. It also appears the sender is actually asking to make many different requests to the Gaston County, NC Tax Office specifically, some of which are overly broad. We would need to send each as a unique request, and if possible should try to combine what’s being requested into a few different, succinct requests:
1)“… Copy of your w9” and “… copy of delegation of authority from congress to collect taxes”
2)“… all records 2020-2023 showing amount of taxes collected” (What taxes, specifically? Is this meant to be a request for property taxes?) “… and where funds were distributed to” (As this would also cover a large time period, as written it’s overly broad / vague.)
3)“… copy of all release of property liens from 2009- current” (Is this related specifically to “all properties that are owned by Gaston County” during that specific time period ?)
4)“… list of all parcel number owned by Gaston county, Gaston County of or affiliates”. (The term “affiliates” is overly broad. Also – what time period are you referring to? Is this a request for all parcel IDs of properties “currently owned by the County”? Or, is it meant to be “during the specific time period of 2009 to present”?)
5)“… Clarification AND OR RECORDS FOR OWNER OF ALL STREET NAMES, IN GASTON COUNTY AND IF OWNED BY MUNICIPALITIES STATE WHICH MUNICIPALITY. Clarification/ Information and or records on how to remove the parcel number off property.” (Please note that this info is likely already publicly available online via a Google Search, or, in a County Dashboard / Property Lookup / Tax Lookup tool. Additionally, re: “clarification / information and or records on how to remove the parcel number” — this is more of an informational question for the government to answer, not a clear request for a public record.)
Please note: Sunshine Request is a site built to make requests for public records (recorded info such as documents, emails, and data sets) to government entities. We are a small 3-person team, running the website in addition to our primary business. Due to our availability, the volume of requests we receive, and the time required to fulfill each one — our focus is on fulfilling requests which are in the public interest and evaluating if there is a public benefit to that info being available.
Before submitting another request, please take a moment to review our FAQs and Policies pages. These pages clarify the types of requests we will not fulfill.
6)“… copy of all Gaston county official oath of offices and surety bonds if carried, Copy of your crime insurance policy if carried and surety bonds. Copy of corporate charter and business license showing registered owners names and contact information”
Some of this data has previously been provided to us (or is currently being processed) by Gaston County. As written, the new request would require an unnecessary duplication of some of that same info, as well as County Staff’s time to provide those records.
Overall — as written currently we find the requests as a whole to be overly broad / vague.
Please specify the exact records you’d like to receive, rather than any “possible” or “potential” info that could be searched. Clarifying the specific records you’re seeking will help to greatly narrow the scope of the request, and will also reduce the amount of time it takes the Disclosing Agency (as well as our team) to process the request.
If it is helpful to you when rewriting the request(s), as a reference here are a few examples of requests related to “Oath of Office” or “Surety Bonds”:
If after reviewing our site, and the County’s site, you are still unable to locate the records you’d like to receive — please feel free to revise and submit new request(s) through our website. Please clearly indicate any specific details, subject, message, dates, record types, City / County / State, etc. about the exact public records that are being requested.
Sunshine Request will not fulfill the following types of requests:
☀️ Requests that are incomplete, non-specific, or vague.
While we do proofread requests we receive for general spelling and clarity, we may choose not to fulfill the request if it is incomplete, or it is unclear what specific information the requester hopes to receive. In this case, the sender may rewrite and resubmit the request.
It’s the requester’s responsibility to write the request in a manner that clearly specifies a record that is being requested, and to what government entity it should be sent.
☀️ Requests that are only informational questions, and requests that are not addressed to government entities.
Sunshine Request is a site built to make requests for public records to the government — Public records are recorded information such as documents, government emails, and data sets.
In the interest of preserving our team’s time to focus on the high volume of requests on our site, as well to respect the staff time of government entities fulfilling records requests, Sunshine Request will no longer fulfill “requests” that are just informational type questions for government entities to answer.
We also will not fulfill requests made to non-government entities.
It’s the requester’s responsibility to write the request in a manner that clearly specifies a record that is being requested, and to what government entity it should be sent.
☀️ Please be specific:
It is important that what you are requesting is specific and reasonable, and is an actionable records request. Please specify the exact type of records you’d like to receive, rather than any “possible” or “potential” info that could be searched. Remember that the larger your request, the more time it usually takes to fulfill. Specificity will often help reduce the amount of time needed to process the request.
It is important that a request has a clearly written and complete Subject and Message, and also specifies the Government Entity (or entities), City and/or County, and State to which the request should be sent. If applicable, please also include any responsive timelines for the info that should be requested.
While we do proofread requests we receive for general spelling and clarity, we may choose not to fulfill the request if it is incomplete, or it is unclear what specific info the requester hopes to receive, or if it violates our policies.
Before submitting a request, please take a moment to review our tips for How to write and make a successful request. If you have additional questions about our site or how to make requests, please check out our FAQs or Policies page.
☀️ Code of Conduct: Please do not use Sunshine Request or any of the results of public records requests to harass government entities / employees, businesses, private citizens / individuals, or otherwise.
☀️ Please note that we cannot pay any fees / associated costs related to any of the requests on our site. If it is not possible for a Government Agency to process our request without incurring fees, then it is the responsibility of that Agency to let us know what the potential costs may be — at which point we will ask that they cease processing the request. We will mark the request as “Completed” on our site, and the sender can contact the Government Agency directly, should they wish to further pursue a request.
Thank you for using Sunshine Request!