23-IB09 03/22/2023 FOIA Opinion Letter to Dr. Christopher T. Curry re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Wilmington City Council
Petitioner alleged that the Wilmington City Council voted privately in two executive sessions to select candidates for two Council seats in violation of FOIA.
DECIDED: The Council’s Committee of the Whole violated FOIA by voting via secret ballot in executive session at the November 28, 2022 and February 1, 2023 Committee meetings to recommend the selected candidates for two Council vacancies.
Read More23-IB08 02/09/2023 FOIA Opinion Letter to Randall Chase re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the State of Delaware Board of Elections
Petitioner alleged that the State of Delaware Board of Elections violated FOIA by allowing board members to have visual and audio access to its January 9, 2023 virtual meeting but limiting the public to audio access.
DECIDED: The Board did not violate FOIA by allowing the public to access this meeting through audio means only.
Read More23-IB07 02/08/2023 FOIA Opinion Letter to Steven LePage re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the State Employee Benefits Committee, Delaware Department of Human Resources
Petitioner alleged that the State Employee Benefits Committee, Delaware Department of Human Resources failed to justify its denial of access to the redacted information in the Medicfill contract.
DECIDED: The Committee satisfied its burden of demonstrating that requested materials were appropriately withheld under the pending litigation exemption.
Read More23-IB06 02/07/2023 FOIA Opinion Letter to Jack Guerin re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Trustees of the New Castle Common
Petitioner alleged that the Trustees of the New Castle Common failed to respond to two requests for contracts.
DECIDED: The Trustees violated FOIA by failing to meet their burden of demonstrating that the requested contracts are exempt from disclosure.
Read More23-IB05 02/03/2023 FOIA Opinion Letter to Christiane Marchio re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (“DHSS”) violated FOIA by denying access to an animal welfare complaint report.
DECIDED: The DHSS did not violate FOIA, as the requested record is exempt under the investigatory files exemption.
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23-IB04 01/25/2023 FOIA Opinion Letter to Thomas Pledgie re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Delaware Department of Finance
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Finance improperly denied his request for certain meeting minutes because he was not a citizen of Delaware.
DECIDED: The Department did not violate FOIA by denying access to the requested records.
Read More23-IB03 01/24/2023 FOIA Opinion Letter to Amy Roe re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Delaware Department of Education
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Education (“DOE”) violated FOIA by including in its cost estimate for email retrieval time to scrub email results and including in its potential administrative cost the time to redact documents.
DECIDED: This Office found no basis to conclude that DOE violated FOIA as alleged in the petition.
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23-IB02 01/19/2023 Opinion Letter to Donald Burdick re: FOIA Complaint Concerning Sussex County
Petitioner alleged that Sussex County violated FOIA by failing to provide responsive records to two requests related to a certain wastewater facility.
DECIDED: The County has met its burden of proof to demonstrate that it has not violated FOIA by failing to provide responsive records to the two requests.
Read More23-IB01 01/09/2023 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mike Lang re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Directors
Petitioner alleged that the Board of Directors of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (“DIAA”) violated FOIA at its November 10, 2022 meeting because the motion to take administrative action on a personnel matter discussed in the preceding executive session did not adequately describe the topic subject to vote.
DECIDED: The Board did not violate FOIA by failing to describe more specifically the personnel matter subject to vote.
Read More22-IB51 12/19/2022 FOIA Opinion Letter to Randall Chase re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
Petitioner alleged that DNREC had not responded to his request as of the date of the Petition and that the raw sampling data and related internal correspondence had not been provided, despite this Office’s previous opinion regarding these records.
DECIDED: The Petition’s claim that DNREC failed to respond to the request was determined to be moot. DNREC violated FOIA by failing to demonstrate its withholding of access to the requested raw data and the related internal correspondence was proper under FOIA.
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