25-IB47 9/29/25 FOIA Opinion Letter to Michael Ryan re: Delaware State Police, Department of Safety and Homeland Security
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware State Police, Department of Safety and Homeland Security refused to provide a copy of the police report documenting the petitioner’s verbal complaint.
DECIDED: As this report is exempt as an investigatory file record under Section 10002(o)(3), no violation of FOIA was found.
Read More25-IB46 9/29/25 FOIA Opinion Letter to Julie Morris re: City of Milford
Petitioner alleged that the City violated FOIA by improperly shifting responsibility to the petitioner by recommending a change to email providers when the petitioner did not receive confirmations of requests. The petition alleges that request 2025-38 was declared closed without a complete response, as the City sent partial vendor totals without providing the full, underlying financial disclosure records requested and that the cost estimate of $9,592.00 for request 2025-60 was excessive and unreasonable.
DECIDED: The City violated FOIA by failing to demonstrate its cost estimate was compliant with FOIA’s fee provisions. However, no violation with respect to the remaining claims was found.
Read More25-IB45 9/09/25 FOIA Opinion Letter to Irina Genseruk re: New Castle County
Petitioner alleged New Castle County violated FOIA in the following ways: (1) the County’s response did not cite specific statutory exemptions for the denial of documents; (2) the response did not provide a log or index of withheld records, (3) the response was formulaic and non-individualized; (4) the response referenced only publicly available websites and avoidi questions related to decision-making and enforcement actions; (5) no clarification was provided regarding the grandfathered use status of the parcel; and (6) the County’s initial denial of your request based on your citizenship violated FOIA. The petition also made non-FOIA claims related to misconduct and other issues.
DECIDED: As the County’s response did not violate FOIA as alleged above and FOIA does not require a public body to provide an index of withheld records or to answer questions, no violation of FOIA was found. The remaining claims were not appropriate for consideration.
Read More25-IB44 9/03/25 FOIA Opinion Letter to Phillip Hudson re: Christina School District
Petitioner alleged that the Christina School District violated FOIA’s public records provisions by: (1) requiring in-person verification of the petitioner’s identity with two forms of identification in order to receive the responsive personnel records; (2) refusing to transmit responsive records by email or mail; and (3) missing the extended response deadline for the request.
DECIDED: The District did not sufficiently support that two items in the request were exempt and not required to be made available through its FOIA request process. A supplemental response specific to those two items was recommended. The remaining claims were determined to be inappropriate for consideration.
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