Date Posted: Tuesday, November 26th, 2024
Petitioner alleged that the Town of Greenwod Council violated FOIA because: 1) the Council’s executive session for personnel discussions was improper, as you requested these discussions be public; 2) the executive session documents were typed by a councilmember’s relative; and 3) a quorum of the Council improperly discussed public business over email.
DECIDED: The Town Council’s executive session at its August 27, 2024 meeting was appropriately held under Section 10004(b)(4). The Town Council violated FOIA by holding a “meeting” as defined by FOIA through email communications without satisfying FOIA’s open meeting requirements. The authorship of the executive session materials is a matter outside the scope of this opinion.
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Date Posted: Tuesday, November 26th, 2024
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Correction (“DOC”) improperly denied a request for certain records related to inmates.
DECIDED: As the DOC demonstrated that the requested records do not exist, no violation of FOIA was found.
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Date Posted: Monday, November 18th, 2024
Petitioner alleged that the City of Rehoboth Beach Board of Adjustment gave insufficient notice of a variance related to a certain parking lot on its September 30, 2024 meeting agenda and that the Board failed to properly mail notices and post signage for this same item on its October 16, 2024 meeting.
DECIDED: No violation of FOIA was found.
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Date Posted: Thursday, November 14th, 2024
Petitioner alleged that the Christina School District Board of Education violated the open meeting requirements of FOIA during the August 13, 2024 meeting by privately discussing public matters.
DECIDED: No violation of FOIA was found.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, November 6th, 2024
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Transportation (“DelDOT”) improperly denied the request for certain records regarding the legislative ratification of an agreement due to the petitioner’s lack of Delaware citizenship.
DECIDED: No violation of FOIA was found.
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Date Posted: Friday, October 25th, 2024
Petitioner alleged that the Diamond State Port Corporation (“DSPC”) was about to violate FOIA at its September 27, 2024 Board of Directors meeting by failing to post adequate notice of its executive session for legal advice and by potentially discussing the improper topic of a potential labor strike in executive session.
DECIDED: The DSPC did not violate FOIA by failing to give sufficient notice of the executive session regarding legal advice on its September 27, 2024 meeting agenda. In addition, the DSPC did not violate FOIA by discussing the labor strike in executive session, as the DSPC provided sworn evidence that this topic was not discussed in executive session at the meeting.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, October 23rd, 2024
Petitioner alleged that the Christina School District did not provide all the requested records in response to its FOIA request. The petition also alleged that one document’s remaining information, after redactions, was not comprehensible.
DECIDED: Based on the District’s sworn statements in its affidavit, it was found that the alleged violations did not occur. The District demonstrated that it sufficiently searched for responsive records and that no other responsive public records were found as a result of this search.
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Date Posted: Friday, October 18th, 2024
Petitioner alleged the Lieutenant Governor’s Office failed to provide a complete response to his request for FOIA logs.
DECIDED: The Lieutenant Governor’s Office provided a sworn statement that it provided all the FOIA logs in its possession that were responsive to the Request and conducted both a physical and electronic search for older FOIA logs to no avail. The Lieutenant Governor’s Office met its burden to demonstrate that it provided all records in its possession responsive to the request.
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Date Posted: Thursday, October 17th, 2024
Petitioner alleged that the County failed to provide responsive audio records and/or documents in violation of FOIA.
DECIDED: The County asserted that any responsive document was part of an investigatory file and, thus, not a public record under FOIA. The investigatory files exemption from the definition of public record does not change once an investigation is closed.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, October 9th, 2024
Petitioner alleged that the City of Wilmington violated FOIA by denying the FOIA request for copies of any and all correspondence between the Mayor’s Office, the City, Wilmington Police Department, and the Urban Arts Exchange as it relates to the Positive Vibes in the Park: Justice for All event that was moved from the Urban Arts Exchange to the Route 9 library on August 23, 2024. The City argued that the records were not public records as they related to potential litigation between the event organizer and the City based on statements the event organizer purportedly made to a news outlet that the events organizer contacted attorneys about possible legal action. Petitioner argued that they were a journalist and not a party to any potential litigation between the event organizer and the City.
DECIDED: The Opinion held that City violated FOIA by denying access to the correspondence under the potential litigation exemption because there was no evidence of potential litigation between the event organizer and the City because there was nothing to support the event organizer engaged an attorney to file a private civil cause of action against the City and no history of litigation between these parties.
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