17-IB12 06/19/2017 FOIA Opinion Letter to The Hon. Samuel Guy re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Council Leadership Team
Petitioner alleged that the Wilmington City Council’s Leadership Team was meeting privately in violation of FOIA. HELD: The Team, as currently constituted, is a “public body” which is subject to FOIA’s open meetings provisions. Therefore, private meetings are held to have violated FOIA. This office recommends that if the current form of the Team is continued, future meetings should comply with FOIA’s open meetings requirements and minutes of all prior meetings should be made available for inspection and copying.
Read More17-IB11 06/16/2017 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Jim Lee re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the State Lottery Office
Petitioner alleged that the State Lottery Office improperly denied his request for information. HELD: There was no FOIA violation because the information requested would require the creation of a new record, which is not required by FOIA.
Read More17-IB10 06/15/2017 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Daniel Kramer re: FOIA Complaint Concerning Sussex County Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission of Sussex County
Petitioner alleged that Sussex County Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission of Sussex County held focus groups without appropriate notice to the public or otherwise not compliant with FOIA’s open meetings provisions. HELD: There was no FOIA violation. The focus groups were not meetings of the public bodies against which the complaint was brought, as they did not include a quorum of either body. The private contractor operating the focus groups is a private entity and the focus groups themselves were formed by the private entity for single meetings to give input rather than an ongoing operation to make recommendations or reports or to conduct investigations. Thus the contractor and focus groups are not public bodies subject to FOIA.
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