00-IB18: Re: Freedom of Information Act Complaint Against City of Newark

Complainant alleged that the City of Newark violated the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) by failing to provide him with information and by providing inadequate notice of its intent to vote on a new power generating project. Held: FOIA does not require a public body to create documents that do not already exist, so there was no violation with respect to the Complainant’s request for information. As to the notice issue, a “general statement” of the issues expected to be discussed is sufficient under FOIA, so an agenda that included the proposed power generation project as an item for discussion did not need to also specify that the council might vote to authorize the project. There was no FOIA violation.

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