97-IB01: FOIA-Complaint Against Town of Laurel
Complainant alleged that the Town of Laurel (i) violated the open records requirements of FOIA by not producing documents responsive to his records request; and (ii) violated the open meetings requirement of FOIA because it did not comply with the town’s subdivision regulations; and (iii) another meeting notice and agenda, posted at the Town’s Planning Commission office, violated FOIA because it did not provide the time and place of the meeting. Held: (i) A signed affidavit from the custodian of records stating that there are no responsive records to the request is sufficient for purposes of FOIA; (ii) The Town’s notice requirements are separate and distinct from FOIA; (iii) the Planning Commission meeting’s posted notice and agenda violated FOIA because it did not provide the time and place of the meeting and was posted with five days, rather than seven day’s notice. No remediation required because this was a technical rather than substantive violation.
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