Date Posted: Wednesday, February 5th, 2020
Petitioner alleged that the Board of Adjustment of the City of Seaford provided insufficient public notice of its consideration of a variance at its December 4, 2019 meeting.
DECIDED: This Office determined that the City did not violate FOIA as alleged by the Petitioner, as the agenda provided adequate notice to the members of the public with an intense interest in the variance.
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Date Posted: Thursday, January 23rd, 2020
Petitioner alleged that DNREC improperly denied his request for records regarding his client’s wetland map amendment application.
DECIDED: DNREC did not violate FOIA as alleged. DNREC satisfied the statutory requirement in this instance by citing to the pending or potential litigation exemption as its reason for denying the request. In addition, the Office found that the circumstances met the two-prong test for the potential litigation exemption, and DNREC appropriately denied the request on this basis.
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Date Posted: Tuesday, January 14th, 2020
Petitioner alleged the Nominating Committee of the Odyssey Charter School’s Board of Directors improperly noticed its intent to hold an executive session.
DECIDED: Because any public body can hold an executive session in the manner authorized by FOIA, the Board’s Nominating Committee, as a public body, did not violate FOIA by noticing its intent to hold an executive session.
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Date Posted: Tuesday, January 14th, 2020
Petitioner alleged that the Division of Public Health of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (“DPH”) improperly withheld documents regarding certain animal control complaints and evidence.
DECIDED: DPH did not violate FOIA, as the requested records were investigatory file records exempt pursuant to 29 Del. C. § 10002(l)(3).
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Date Posted: Friday, January 3rd, 2020
Petitioner alleged Odyssey Charter School’s Board of Directors held a Board meeting on December 3, 2019 in a locked building that did not allow adequate public access. The Petitioner also asserted that this location also was not the Board’s typical meeting location. Petitioner further alleged the Board and its Nominating Committee improperly held executive sessions.
DECIDED: The Board did not violate FOIA in its provision of access to the December 3, 2019 meeting because it provided proper notice of the location and made arrangements for main office staff to allow access to the building. However, this Office determined that the Board’s failure to provide notice of its December 3, 2019 executive session was a violation of FOIA. The Board committed to discuss the qualifications of the candidates and take a vote selecting the Board members in open session at a future public meeting. No additional steps were recommended.
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Date Posted: Friday, January 3rd, 2020
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Prosperity Partnership is a public body and is obligated to respond to his request for certain records.
DECIDED: No FOIA violation was found. DPP was determined not to be a public body subject to FOIA.
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Date Posted: Monday, December 30th, 2019
Petitioner alleged that New Castle County redacted “flagged” information from 911 records pertaining to his address without citing a statutory exemption from FOIA. The County responded that the “flagged” information maintained in the 911 system contains specific warnings and response strategies that aid law enforcement in responding to a particular address and that the disclosure of flagged information may endanger the safety of neighboring citizens and the responding officers, and is thus exempt pursuant to 29 Del. C. § 10002(l)(17).
DECIDED: No FOIA violation was found. FOIA requires a public body to provide a reason for denying a request but does not require a specific citation to the statute. Based on the County’s representations, this Office found that the County properly asserted the 29 Del. C. § 10002(l)(17) exemption in these circumstances.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, December 18th, 2019
Petitioner alleged DelDOT improperly denied his FOIA request on behalf of his client for draft appraisals and communications regarding appraisals by citing exemptions for pending or potential litigation, trade secrets or commercial or financial information, and attorney-client privilege.
DECIDED: This Office determined that DelDOT adequately demonstrated that potential litigation with DelDOT is likely or reasonably foreseeable and the draft appraisals and the communications related to the appraisals have a clear nexus to this potential litigation. Thus, these records were exempt under 29 Del. C. § 10002(l)(9) and properly withheld under FOIA.
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Date Posted: Tuesday, November 26th, 2019
Petitioner alleged the City of Wilmington improperly denied his request for a certificate of insurance.
DECIDED: No violation was found. In accordance with McBurney v. Young and prior Attorney General Opinions, a Delaware public body may deny a FOIA request solely because the requesting party is not a citizen of Delaware, and the only evidence in the record indicated that the Petitioner was not a citizen.
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Date Posted: Monday, November 25th, 2019
Petitioner alleged Sussex County improperly denied her FOIA requests. The County provided a cost estimate for certain records, and the Petitioner also alleged that the County improperly denied her request to reduce the cost estimate by the value of the time employees performing the search had spent on personal internet usage in a time period prior to the search.
DECIDED: No FOIA violation was found. The records requested related to pending or potential litigation, and no error was found in the County’s denial of the Petitioner’s request to subtract employees’ personal internet time from the costs estimated to fulfill the Petitioner’s request.
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