Date Posted: Tuesday, February 13th, 2018
Petitioner alleged that a meeting and intended future meetings among University of Delaware staff and City of Newark staff, including the City Manager, constituted a meeting as defined by FOIA which was not properly noticed in accordance with FOIA. DECIDED: The gathering did not constitute a meeting of a public body. No FOIA violation found.
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Date Posted: Monday, February 12th, 2018
Petitioner alleged that a press conference constituted a meeting as defined by FOIA and was not properly noticed in accordance with FOIA. DECIDED: The press conference attended by a quorum of the Council, but during which there was no discussion among the Council members regarding public business, did not constitute a meeting of the Council. No FOIA violation found.
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Date Posted: Monday, February 12th, 2018
Petitioner alleged that the Laurel Police Department violated FOIA by failing to provide a specific response regarding two of the three items he had requested in a single FOIA request. The Department sent him a letter subsequent to its receipt of the petition explaining that the other two records did not exist. DECIDED: No FOIA violation was found because there was no denial of access to records.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, February 7th, 2018
Petitioner alleged multiple open meetings violations by the City of Dover Ethics Commission regarding the handling of an ethics complaint that Petitioner had filed with the Commission. DECIDED: The December 7, 2017 meeting was properly noticed, the Commission noticed a permissible purpose for its November 14 and December 7, 2017 executive sessions, and the executive session discussions were permissible under FOIA. This Office was unable to determine whether the Commission conducted public votes to convene the executive sessions or whether the Commission’s December 7, 2017 vote to dismiss Petitioner’s complaint was publicly held as required by FOIA.
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Date Posted: Tuesday, January 30th, 2018
Petitioner alleged the City of Wilmington improperly withheld documents created by a contractor – which included evaluations of employees – in response to a FOIA request for the documents. DECIDED: No FOIA violation found.
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Date Posted: Friday, January 12th, 2018
Petitioner alleged that DNREC violated FOIA by denying his request for a legal opinion provided by a Deputy Attorney General to its client, DNREC on the basis that the record was exempted pursuant to the attorney-client privilege. DECIDED: DNREC did not violate FOIA as alleged.
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Date Posted: Friday, January 12th, 2018
Petitioners alleged that the Division of Public Health violated FOIA by withholding certain categories of information from the Office of Animal Welfare call log. During the pendency of the petition, DPH provided certain additional categories of information, but maintained that the remaining redactions were proper pursuant to the investigatory exemption. DECIDED: As DPH ultimately provided certain categories of information, DPH violated FOIA by not providing those categories in the first instance or, in the alternative, indicating that additional time was needed. However, no remediation was recommended because the information had already been provided. DPH did not violate FOIA by redacting the remaining categories of information pursuant to the investigatory files exemption.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, January 3rd, 2018
Petitioner alleged that the Department of Insurance violated FOIA by not providing a copy of its employee manual when Petitioner hand-delivered a written request for the document that same day. DECIDED: No FOIA violation was found. This Office does not interpret FOIA to require a public body to provide immediate in-person access to records upon receipt of a written request.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, January 3rd, 2018
Petitioner alleged that his request for a copy of a motion made at a Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission meeting was improperly denied. DECIDED: No FOIA violation was found. Under the circumstances specific to this case, the document used by the speaker to make the motion (which was captured in audio and video recordings that were provided to Petitioner pursuant to a separate FOIA request) were appropriately considered to be personal notes and not a public record under FOIA.
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Date Posted: Friday, December 29th, 2017
Petitioner alleged that the City of Wilmington failed to respond to his FOIA request. DECIDED: The City violated FOIA by not responding within 15 business days. However, as the City has since responded, no remediation was recommended.
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