12-IIB10 7/27/12 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Andrew Staub re: FOIA Petition against the City of Wilmington – The News Journal Request for City of Wilmington Police Compensation Records
The City of Wilmington refused to disclose salary information for law enforcement officers and claimed that such information exempt from disclosure under FOIA. It was held that the burden of justifying the withholding of records is on the custodian, that exemptions from disclosure are to be applied narrowly and that as a general matter, salary information falls within the definition of public record. As a result, Wilmington was directed to disclose the information.
Read More12-IIB09 7/13/12 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Dell Tush re: FOIA Complaint against the Town Council of Dewey Beach with Attachment: FOIA Remedies Agreement
Petitioner alleged that the Town of Dewey had failed to provide proper notice as to the topics to be discussed in the executive sessions of the two November 2011 meetings. DOJ held that the agendas for those meetings failed to specify the topics to be discussed in executive session and as a result, did not comply with the open meeting requirements, such that the actions taken during the meetings were voidable. Following a review of the agendas and minutes for all of the meetings of the Town Council of Dewey Beach from January 2011 through April 2012, it was determined that there was a pattern to disregard the open meeting requirements. DOJ and the Town of Dewey Beach entered into a FOIA Remedies Agreement pursuant to which Dewey was required to cooperate with DOJ to ensure that Dewey would comply with the open meeting requirements moving forward.
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