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 05/14/24: The submission above has been marked as “Completed”. As written, it is unclear what specific, searchable public record the sender would like to receive.
1) It is unclear what previous request (if it was submitted through our website) the sender may be referring to in their Message.
However, please note that since 2020 we’ve received and fulfilled many requests asking for various salary (or other financial data) from Lincoln County, NC Government employees. Rather than list all of those requests here, we ask that the sender please perform a “Search” on our website using the term “Lincoln County”, to see what we mean. Most recently, we completed a request for “All current employees and salaries“ on March 27, 2024.
The new submission above is asking for some of the same data that has previously been provided to us by the County in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. As written, the new request would require an unnecessary duplication of some of that same info as well as the County’s Staff’s time to provide those records.
2A) It is unclear what specific searchable records you hope to receive by writing the following: “… any documents that show those employees receiving supplements/differentials/incentives and the amounts for additional pay such as PIO duties within the last year. If the additional pay has been ongoing over may years, provide the initiating document. (IE: if they are getting PIO additional pay for ten years and still getting in the last year.)”
As written, we find this aspect of the request to be overly broad and unclear. 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 Agencies (as well as our team) to process the request.
2B) The sender also indicated the “Start / End date” for all responsive records should be “July 01, 2022 – June 30, 2023″.
Based on our experiences requesting basic salary data from many entities – we feel it’s likely the County won’t be able to query the data in the manner requested (on a specific date in time in the past, or “on the first day of every month, from July 2022 through June 2023). Most entities seem to only be able to provide salary data “as of the present day”, or within the last month. We’re happy to send in a new request once it’s revised and resubmitted to our site, but just wanted to note that possibility for your consideration when re-writing the request.
3) If it is helpful to you when rewriting the request — as a reference here are a few examples of completed requests related to “pay differentials”, “bonuses”, or “stipends” :
If after reviewing our site, and the County’s website, you are still unable to locate the records you’d like to receive — please feel free to revise and submit a new request through our site. 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, overly broad, 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 include profanity, personal statements, opinions, possibly defamatory statements, or other unnecessary info that is not relevant to making a records request.
Please do not include personal opinions and statements in the request’s Subject or Message. Please omit any extraneous statements that are not specific to the exact information you’d like to receive. This is not relevant information pertinent to the processing of a records request, and the request will not be published.
☀️ 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!